Clinical Attraction
by DragonSlayerArts
Summary: Juvia Lockser and Gray Fullbuster have been close friends ever since high school. Twelve years later, with both now working as doctors at Fairy Tail Hospital, their long-awaited relationship begins to truly blossom, but will a tragic accident bring the two even closer? Or will it drive them apart forever? Hospital!AU Mainly Gruvia. Some RoWen and other pairings as well.
1. The Shot Heard Around the Hospital

Hellooo everyone! I was watching Scrubs the other day, and it inspired me to write a hospital AU around my OTP Gruvia! And maybe a hint of RoWen. I'm not super sure exactly where this story is going, but I have an idea. Pls bear with me. :) Also, I'm not super sure where readers are in their medical knowledge, so I've gotten a little footnote glossary at the end of each chapter for the medical terms that I think need more explanation or that aren't specifically defined in the story! Terms marked with an (*) are defined. So with all that said, please read, enjoy, and review!

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Fairy Tail or its characters. All rights go to Hiro Mashima. I only have unofficial ownership of the idea for this fanfic.

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**The Shot Heard Around the Hospital**

As Juvia opened the door to the doctors' lounge, she was greeted by a blast of lethargy and boredom that almost knocked her off her feet. This was an extremely unusual situation to find in Fairy Tail Hospital's OR, or any part of the hospital for that matter, and it slightly unnerved her. Walking over to the more familiar faces, Juvia pulled up a chair and greeted her friends cautiously, "Hello everyone. What's going on?"

A blonde ophthalmologist lazily lifted her hand in response and sighed, "I _wish_ there was something going on! No scheduled cases, no traumas, no meetings. How is that even possible?"

"You'd think more people would be pulling crazy stunts out in that weather," a red-headed woman piped up, nodding to the window through which the sun beamed down cheerfully as small, wispy clouds passed beneath it on a pleasant breeze. It was a beautiful summer day, and everyone wished they could be anywhere but at work in a hospital.

"_You'd_ think, Erza," a pink-haired man, Natsu, scoffed, "You just want to drill into some poor victim's skull."

Erza glared hard at Natsu, causing him to shrink back in fear, "Say that again, Natsu? I'm a neurosurgeon. Is there something wrong with wanting to do my job?"

"N-No! N-Noth-thing wrong at-t-t a-all!" the orthopedic surgeon squeaked, cowering behind Lucy fearfully.

The blonde rolled her eyes at Natsu's stupidity before motioning to someone at the other side of the table, "Well, whatever case comes in, Gray sure won't be bored."

The dark-haired man in question shrugged, "Hey, I can't help that everyone loves anesthesiologists."

"Don't inflate that already overinflated ego, Ice Prick," Natsu muttered.

Juvia had been listening with rapt attention to the banter and watched in fascination as a vein throbbed in Gray's cheek and he scowled irritably, "What'd you say, Flame Brain?"

"You heard me, Ice Princess!"

"Why you little…" Gray stood up, rolling up the sleeves of his lab coat in the process and cracking his knuckles, "You want to go, Natsu?"

"Ha! Bring it on, Gray!" Natsu laughed gleefully, preparing to punch Gray in the face.

"Enough!" Erza roared as she barged between the two, "You are acting like children! Lucy and Juvia are more mature than you, and they're still *fellows!"

"Don't drag us into this!" Juvia objected, but her wide smile gave away her amusement.

Lucy snorted and remarked, "Of course we're more mature! I think we knew that all the way back in high school!"

"Hey! We're only three years older than you!" Gray brought up defensively.

"Only three years?" Juvia giggled, winking at Gray and ignoring the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Gray smiled at her good-naturedly and laughed, causing Juvia's cheeks to turn bright red and forcing her to duck behind her hair. Lucy watched the exchange intently and elbowed Juvia with a sly smirk plastered on her face.

"Shut up!" Juvia cried and shoved Lucy's arm away, eventually getting a grip on her blushing.

Suddenly, a nurse sprinted into the lounge and declared with surprising gentleness and calm, "Prep the room! A *trauma case is coming in!"

"Lisanna? What's going on?" Erza asked her, alarmed and concerned. Traumas were never a good thing, no matter how bored the doctors were.

"Gunshot wound to the chest and leg, boy age 18. He's miraculously stable, but the bullet to the chest is still in there somewhere, his left tibia is shattered, and he's losing lots of blood. I need Juvia, Natsu, and Gray for the procedure." The RN sprinted out of the lounge to prep the room while Juvia, Gray, and Natsu whisked away to gather more patient information. The others looked on in increased worry when they heard a teenager was in such a condition.

Gray immediately got on the phone with the patient's frantic father, trying to gather the information he needed to administer anesthesia. Natsu occupied another phone with the paramedics, trying to pry the patient's status and condition out of them. Juvia, on the other hand, had rushed to find her attending instructor, only to remember that he had called in sick that morning. With a rush of dread, Juvia realized that she was on her own.

Juvia was freaking out; how would she deal with being unsupervised in an open-heart surgery? She was only a first-year cardiology fellow, emphasis on first-year. While she had graduated med school, her training was far from complete, and the only exposure Juvia had ever had to this kind of operation was in a lecture video and observing a pacemaker implantation.

Juvia rushed back to the front desk, where Gray and Natsu were still on their respective phones, and collapsed in a chair, cradling her head in her hands. Gray glanced over at her in concern, but there wasn't much he could do, since he was still attempting to wring out allergy info from the frantic father.

"Is there an x-ray of the boy's chest and leg?" Natsu was shouting, scrambling for a clearer image of the boy's injuries. Hearing that, Juvia snapped back to attention and began doing her share in the situation.

Pulling the keyboard on the desk closer to her, Juvia did her best to search the hospital databases for any tips on how to perform the procedure. The further down she scrolled, the more Juvia paled as she arrived at the conclusion that she would have to stop the boy's heart to remove the bullet if it was still imbedded in the muscle. She would need to support him on a heart-lung bypass machine, which basically acted as a heart for the boy until his own heart is fixed, and she would have to make sure there was no damage to a major artery so he wouldn't bleed out.

The task was impossibly daunting, but in the back of Juvia's mind, she remembered something her instructor had said during the pacemaker surgery.

"The greatest risk is infection after the surgery…" Juvia muttered to herself, "Ok, you can do this, Juvia."

"Did you say something, Juvia?" Natsu called over his phone conversation.

"Hmm? No, nothing! Didn't say anything!" Juvia flushed, quite flustered, "Have they gotten x-rays on the kid yet?"

"Yeah. I just got them. You wanna check them out?" the salmon-haired man gestured to his computer monitor with a flourish.

Juvia chuckled nervously and walked over, "Yes, please."

What she saw on the screen shocked her. This patient… was incredibly lucky. It seemed that the bullet had hit the sternum and rebounded into the *left ventricle, but it had miraculously missed all major veins and arteries. Juvia almost sighed in relief.

"Come on!" Natsu groaned, "A shattered sternum? Way to make my job harder, kid. Gray, do you have the patient chart filled yet?"

There was a click a moment later and Gray sighed, "Yeah, Natsu. There's nothing that'll affect you in any way. How's the x-ray?"

"Awesome for a gunshot wound, but it's making my life a heck of a lot harder," Natsu growled, "A shattered tibia and a cracked, borderline shattered sternum of all things!"

"How's the heart Juvia?" Gray asked, "Is it bad?"

"Surprisingly, not really," Juvia said casually, trying to hide her lingering doubts, "That boy got really lucky. It's only a few centimeters deep in the muscle of the left ventricle."

"Good to hear. And it looks like your job was made easier at Natsu's expense, so even better," Gray smirked, causing Natsu to scowl in annoyance.

"Shut up, Ice Princess!"

Gray rolled his eyes and looked over at Juvia worryingly, noticing that she appeared paler and shakier than normal. "Juvia, come with me for a second please."

"What are you…" Natsu questioned, glancing at the clock, "The patient could be here any second!"

"I know, Flame Brain! We won't be far. Yell for us if he gets here," Gray grumbled before leading Juvia out to the hall.

"Gray, is something wrong?" Juvia asked, concern shining in her blue eyes as she peered into Gray's own midnight black ones.

She stared questioningly back into Gray's unwavering gaze and felt the tension building slowly in the air around them. "Are you all right?" the anesthesiologist finally asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Huh? Oh, J-Juvia is fine!" Juvia stuttered, shrinking back with mortification when she noticed she had lapsed back into her childish habit of third person speech.

"No, you're not," Gray insisted, a softer expression settling onto his features, "You're talking in third person, which means you're nervous or scared."

"How would G-Gra-y-you know that?"

"Because I've known you for over a decade," Gray stated simply, "You're going to be fine."

"B-But what if Juvia messes up? The attending isn't here to help! Something terrible could happen, and it would all be Juvia's fault!"

"Don't think like that. Juvia, you're smart, you know your stuff. How else would you have made it out of medical school alive? Now, just calm…" Gray was cut off by the sound of a door slamming open and the shouts and footsteps of the nurses as they rolled the boy into the OR.

"Guys, patient's here!" Natsu called from the desk, grabbing the patient chart and taking off after the gurney.

"I think that's obvious, Natsu!" Gray called after him, rolling his eyes. He gently grabbed Juvia's arm and took off running as well. Glancing back to Juvia, who somehow managed to match his strides perfectly, he grinned and reassured her, "Juvia, you'll do great!"

Juvia managed to muster a weak smile before they caught up to Natsu, who was a few feet behind the patient. They raced down the hallway to the operating room, where they immediately separated to get their instruments ready while the nurses moved the patient.

One of the nurses grabbed the patient chart from Natsu and immediately began scribbling stats on the board. Juvia took one glance at it, made sure the boy's blood pressure and heart rate were stable, and finished setting her station. Gray was busy checking his medications and monitors. Natsu was walking over to check the boy's leg, when he saw the patient's face for the first time.

He stopped short in his tracks, face draining of all color. He looked like he was about to pass out, but he managed to make his way to the boy's head, "R-Romeo!"

"Natsu, do you know the patient? Are you related?" Gray asked urgently, mouth set in a thin line, "Natsu!"

Natsu nodded slowly, eyes not once leaving the form of his unconscious relative, "Yeah. He… He's my cousin, Romeo Conbolt."

"And you didn't realize until now?" Gray growled.

"I hadn't known the patient's name!" the pink-haired surgeon argued.

"How could you not know his name? The paramedics should have told you!" the anesthesiologist said incredulously.

"Well, they didn't! Shut up, Gray!"

Juvia decided that it was best to intervene before they made a scene at the already tense situation. "It doesn't matter now! But Natsu, you know the policy. You shouldn't operate on family members."

"I-It's too late for that! I'm the only orthopedic surgeon here today. I… have to operate on him." Natsu visibly steeled his nerves and went back to his tray of lethal-looking instruments.

"Well, if you're sure…" Gray scowled, obviously unhappy with the situation, and bent to anesthetize Romeo. Once the boy was sufficiently knocked out and *intubated, Juvia shakily stepped up to the operating table.

She poured *Betadine onto the boy's chest and cleaned him off as much as she could. As she worked, Natsu leaned over and stared into Juvia's eyes, "You better fix him correctly, Juvia."

Gray, who was much more aware of the cardiologist's delicate state of mind, barked at the man, "Natsu! You're not helping!"

But Juvia just stared back at Natsu and nodded. Then, in as strong a voice as she could muster, she demanded, "Scalpel."

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After four hours of intense surgery, Juvia finally removed the bullet and a few sternum fragments and put in a few stitches. She got Romeo's heart restarted as soon as she could and moved aside to allow Natsu access to the chest cavity, finally able to breathe a little easier. Romeo's leg had been set and casted by then, so Natsu devoted the rest of three hours to setting and plating his cousin's sternum back together, looking paler and sweatier with each passing minute.

So, after a total of seven hours of operation, Romeo was wheeled out to the Intensive Care Unit, externally looking no worse for wear other than a few stitches and a cast.

Juvia, Gray, and Natsu were left to get cleaned up and accompany the patient up to make their surgical reports.

As they walked, Gray shot her a small smile and turned back to check the patient's level of consciousness. Juvia felt the rush of heat travel up her neck and hoped Gray had turned around before he could see her. Natsu, of course, was oblivious to everything and spent the trip smothering his cousin.

Thankfully, they got to the ICU in one piece and rolled Romeo into his room, where a nurse and doctor were there waiting for the report.

"No problems, Mira," Gray informed the white-haired doctor as he planted the IV pole beside the head of the bed.

"Same here," Juvia said shyly, "But you should keep an eye out for infection since I had to perform a *cardiopulmonary bypass on him."

"Kid's tough. Just watch out for his sternum and leg. They should be fine though," Natsu complimented, finally cracking a small smile. He ruffled Romeo's dark purple hair and was about to step back when the boy began to stir.

Within minutes, Romeo was awake and blinking groggily, "What happened?"

Juvia could see Natsu's blood pressure rising as he pounced on his cousin, "What happened? _What happened? _You had me worried sick, that's what happened! How in the world did you get yourself shot?"

"I was… shot?" Romeo slurred, obviously not completely coherent yet. However, that didn't last long because a second later, his eyes widened and he tried sitting up, only to groan in pain and be pushed down again by Juvia.

"Don't do that, Romeo! You were badly injured," she chided.

"Wh-What's going on? Where am I? Is the old lady ok?" Romeo asked frantically, eyes darting back and forth between the people in the room, "Natsu! What are you doing here?"

"Romeo, relax and calm down. You just came from surgery," Juvia soothed, worried that the boy had somehow messed up some sutures somewhere, "You were shot in the chest and leg, so you need to stay still. Please tell us how that happened?"

The teen had just opened his mouth to respond when there was a commotion out in the hallway, "Where's my son? Tell me where Romeo Conbolt is!"

"Sir, you need to calm down. Your son just came from the OR. He's in Room 3," the woman at the desk said.

Footsteps rang down the hall as Macao Conbolt flew into the room, "Romeo!"

"Hey, Dad," Romeo answered nervously, obviously terrified of his father's reaction to his accident.

"Don't you 'Hey, Dad' me, young man! How could you be so stupid to get yourself shot?" the mustachioed man roared at his son, eyes blazing in anger and fear.

"Um, Uncle Macao, Romeo already heard all this from me. We were just about to hear his explanation, so could ya be quiet for a moment?" Natsu asked bluntly.

Macao's face twisted into a constipated expression as he struggled to restrain himself, but at last he let out a sigh and nodded to Natsu, "Yeah, explain away, Romeo."

Romeo gulped and started his narration again, "Let's see… I was coming home from school, and I heard this scream. It sounded like an old woman, so I ran over to help…"

"With no form of self-defense…" Macao furrowed his eyebrows at his son's sheepish grimace, "Well, continue!"

"Uh, I got there and sure enough, there was this old lady and a dude who was pointing a gun at her. I called the cops, but the guy heard me and shot at me."

"Dude, have I taught you nothing? You should have taken the guy out!" Natsu sighed, but a glare from Macao shut him up.

"Don't listen to the idiot, Romeo. At least you had the sense to call the police," Gray nodded in approval.

"Well, anyway. The guy shot me as I tried tackling him to the ground, and I guess I passed out on him. Last thing I remember are the police sirens and being lifted off the guy by the paramedics."

Turning to the nurse beside her, Mira said, "Elfman, can you call the police station and see if they arrested the shooter? And I need you all to get out so I can attend to young Romeo over here," She demanded everybody else dangerously sweetly, ushering everyone out and slamming the door behind them. No one had the guts to object.

Macao sighed and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, "One question. How were his injuries, Natsu?"

"Not as bad as we thought," Natsu replied reassuringly, "He had a broken leg, broken sternum, a bullet in the heart…"

Macao started and sprinted to the door, about to start knocking wildly, but Natsu grabbed him and restrained him with Gray's help, "Hold on, Uncle! Let me finish!"

"Romeo! Let me go! I gotta make sure my boy's all right! A bullet through the chest? You call that 'not that bad?'" the father yelled incredulously.

"Sir, let us explain! Or rather, let Juvia since she was the one who got the bullet out," Gray tried to reason as he struggled to contain his friend's thrashing uncle.

"M-me?" Juvia stuttered, clearly uncomfortable with the thought of speaking to her patient's volatile father, but under Gray's expectant gaze, she sighed and relented, "Sir, your son is fine. The bullet had bounced off of Romeo's sternum and was stopped by the tissue in the left ventricle. It was a very shallow wound, and the bullet didn't hit anything important. I got it out just fine, but you need to let him rest, so he can recover sooner."

Macao finally stopped resisting and collapsed in one of the chairs in the hall, burying his face in his hands, "My boy…"

Natsu stared at Gray, Gray stared at Juvia, and Juvia stared at Natsu; all three doctors were completely baffled by what to do, so Gray made a quick excuse about getting back to work, allowing them a window of escape from the emotion game that none of them knew how to play.

As they bustled in through the doors of the elevator, a teenage girl tripped over Natsu's foot on her way out and landed with a resounding crash outside the doors. Natsu immediately began apologizing, but the girl stood up like it was nothing, apologized to them instead in a soft voice, and ran in the direction of the ICU.

Juvia caught a flash of blue hair as the girl disappeared around the corner and brushed the incident off. However, as the elevator doors began sliding shut, she heard Gray take a sharp intake of breath as he stiffened. Juvia turned to him worriedly only to see him bound to the crack in the closing doors and yell in disbelief, "WENDY?!"

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Important: I know some of these situations are highly idealized and may be inaccurate, but I tried to make everything within the realm of possibility. Please don't let these unlikely situations put you off. Thanks!

Note: I didn't define any of the jobs because I think they're reasonably self-explanatory. Only ophthalmologist could get confusing, and that's an eye doctor.

Glossary:

Fellow - The stage in medical education after medical school and residency during which doctors may perform most procedures themselves, mostly with supervision.

Trauma - A life-threatening bodily injury that must be surgically treated immediately.

Left ventricle - The thickest chamber of the heart that pumps oxygenated blood to the body.

Intubate - To put a breathing tube down a patient's trachea to help the patient breath while under anesthesia.

Betadine - An antiseptic used to clean surgical sites.

Cardiopulmonary bypass - The name for the action of using the heart-lung bypass machine.


	2. An Imminent Valediction

**Hello Everyone! I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this story, and thank you for the support! I forgot to say this before, but please excuse some OOC parts. I try to make everything as in-character as possible, but as you all know, slip-ups are highly likely. Also, I gotta say that I am NOT a med student, nor have I received any medical training. I am simply extremely interested in the field, who likes writing AU's about it ;). I get most of my info off the internet and make assumptions the rest of the time, so sorry for inaccuracies. Please bear with me. Please read, enjoy, and review! Constructive criticism readily accepted.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will own Fairy Tail. All rights go to Hiro Mashima.**

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**An Imminent Valediction**

"WENDY?!" Gray took a mad dive toward the ever-narrowing gap between the armored metal doors.

"Gray, get back!" Juvia yelled as she forcefully hauled the man away from getting his arm crushed in half, "Don't be stupid!"

Gray huffed and turned to attack the elevator buttons instead, pressing the number 3 with rapidity to a degree where Juvia began worrying for the processing mechanisms' ability to keep up.

"Ice Prick, calm down!" Natsu snapped after a few seconds of listening to his frenemy's frantic clicking, a vein bulging from his forehead in annoyance. Gray slowed down, but continued clicking at a much slower pace, whether subconsciously or to annoy Natsu more, Juvia didn't know.

"What's going on?" Juvia confronted Gray, utterly confused about the situation, "What is your connection to that Wendy girl?"

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open to reveal the second floor, only to be reclosed immediately and forced back upward by Gray's revived bashing of the third floor button. He rolled his eyes in annoyance as the compartment slugged upward before answering, "Wendy's my adoptive sister, per say," he began, only to be interrupted by Juvia's look of surprise and doubt.

"Gray, your only adoptive sister is Ultear. Are you feeling okay?" she asked in concern, not quite sure what to think at the moment.

"No, no, I'm fine. Let me just start from the beginning," Gray sighed as they walked out to the third floor again, "Wendy's mom Grandine used to work here until she got into a fatal car accident about 12 years ago, leaving her five-year-old daughter at the mercy of an orphanage."

"It's the one Ice Princess used to volunteer at during high school," Natsu interjected, looking completely bored through the entire explanation, having already known about everything.

Juvia strained her memory and recalled Gray talking about his service activities on several occasions. Unfortunately, that memory was accompanied by one of her wild fantasies about running the orphanage together with Gray and, of course, growing old together. Feeling a blush coming on, Juvia shook her head and said, "Right, keep going."

"Well, Wendy was relatively new to the orphanage during my senior year, so I was put in charge of befriending her, since her previous volunteer (I think his name was Mystogan or something) there had graduated a year before. Long story short, Wendy practically got my entire family wrapped around her finger at some point, and my mom adopted her after I left for college."

"I see. No wonder seeing her here startled you so much…" Juvia nodded pensively.

"Yeah, especially since she should be at home, doing homework right now, not running around the ICU," Gray muttered as the elevator finally arrived at the correct floor. The three doctors rushed back out to the ICU desk and asked the very confused receptionist whether she had seen a girl with long blue hair go by.

The woman nodded warily and pointed to a room. Upon seeing that the room was Romeo's, a shadow descended over Gray's eyes, and a malicious glint appeared in his eye, "Natsu, say goodbye to your cousin…"

The salmon-haired man looked alarmed and scowled, "The heck d'ya mean by that, Ice Princess?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Gray growled.

"Oh hush, Gray!" Juvia sighed at her friend's behavior (ignoring how irritatingly attractive he was when he was overprotective) before knocking on Romeo's door, "Romeo, this is Doctor Lockser, along with Dr. Fullbuster and Dragneel… again. May we come in?"

Not bothering to wait for a reply, Gray barged through the door and scanned the room, observing his sister sitting next to the patient's father in an uncomfortable hospital chair that had been pulled up next to the bed. The thing that truly caught Gray's eye was the fact Wendy's hand was hovering over Romeo's hair. In true over-protective brotherly fashion, Gray jumped to conclusions and rounded on the two teenagers, "What do you think you're doing, Wendy?"

"G-Gray! This, uh, isn't what you think…" the girl stammered, flushing a bright crimson and jumping away from the bed. Romeo also looked mortified, but much more rational in the situation.

"If it isn't what I think, then what is it?" Gray growled as he bore down on the fidgeting boy.

"Gray…" Macao warned from his seat, only to be unceremoniously ignored.

"Dr. Fullbuster," Romeo's voice cracked in fear. His ears burned bright red, but he cleared his throat and barged onward, "Wendy and I are best friends. Nothing more, nothing less… Sir."

The boy stared defiantly into the anesthesiologist's frigid glare, putting on as tough a face as possible in his bedridden and bandaged state.

"Then what was _that_?" Gray gestured, referencing the hair incident.

"He had a piece of fuzz in his hair, Gray," Macao sighed in exasperation, "What could they have done with me here?"

Natsu snickered behind his hand, "Pretty dumb for the top student in med school…"

A vein pulsed in Gray's forehead and he redirected his anger on Natsu, "Says you, Flame Idiot!"

"Got a problem, Icicle?" Natsu jeered tauntingly.

"Why, you little…" Gray took a menacing step forward, hands balling into fists, but something held him back. Glancing to the side, he saw Juvia's hand laid lightly on his shoulder, and Juvia herself shaking her head imperceptibly. Gray's muscles involuntarily relaxed under the woman's touch, and he grudgingly backed down. Natsu winked suggestively, and the vein in Gray's forehead inflated once more. Macao lazily smacked Natsu over the head, effectively silencing the irritating jester.

Wendy and Romeo were watching the exchange in confused amusement, but they looked down quickly when Gray turned to glare at them. He was about to begin a tirade about their friendship when his phone started ringing. Pulling the device out of his pocket, Gray's scowl morphed into a look of concern as he ducked outside to answer the call.

Juvia was immediately alert at the sight of the worry and fear obscuring the man's features, and she excused herself as well to check on her colleague.

She stayed a suitable distance away from him to ensure his privacy, but that didn't stop her ears from subconsciously seeking several bits and pieces of the conversation.

"What! How did that…? There has to be something… Do you know…? I'm coming down there now!" He hung up and barreled back toward Romeo's room, only to be intercepted by Juvia's calming voice.

"Gray, what's wrong? Please take a deep breath and tell me," the blunette whispered soothingly as she watched the normally stoic man break down in front of her eyes, "I just want to help."

"Mom-hospital-Wendy-go!" he gasped, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. His phone slid from his grasp as he started pacing back and forth. Juvia looked on worriedly as she followed the distressed doctor.

"Ur is in the hospital?" Juvia paled at the implications. With how badly Gray was reacting, it must be serious.

Gray nodded as he rubbed circles around his temples, "I n-need to get W-Wendy and go."

"No, _you_ won't," Gray stared at her like she was insane and looked as if he were about to punch her. Juvia held up a hand, "As in _you_ are in no condition to drive anybody anywhere. Juvia will drive."

"What? No! This is a family matter! You can't go barging in everywhere as you please!"

Juvia was loath to admit it, but that comment stung a little; however, she had bigger problems to worry about at the moment, "Gray, think! You and Juv-i-I both know you're unfit to drive. We're wasting time out here arguing." Juvia winced at her slip-up into third person, but stood her ground.

With dislike and annoyance clouding his turbid brain, the anesthesiologist forced out from between gritted teeth, "Fine, Fiore Medical Center… please."

Juvia looked down sadly and nodded as they retreated to Romeo's room. The room became hushed as the pair entered, and a look at both their faces told everyone that something was wrong.

Seeing as Gray was not going to take the initiative and explain, Juvia took the reins in the conversation, however reluctantly, "Wendy, we need to go. Either Gray or I will explain on the way. It's urgent."

Hearing that, Wendy leapt up and rushed out with the two doctors, only pausing at the doorway to pay a rushed goodbye to the Conbolts.

The trio dashed out to the parking lot where Juvia led them to her navy blue hatchback. Once Gray and Wendy had gotten situated in the passenger and back seat respectively, Juvia started the engine and set off. After several moments of tension, Wendy broke the silence and asked, "What happened?"

Gray's harsh frown softened a fraction, but he remained immutable otherwise. Juvia had no real answer for Wendy, so she chose to remain quiet as well. It seemed Wendy herself had little urgent desire to know the terrifying truth, so she let the topic drop for a moment and stared out the window at the city's lifeless night sky.

At length, Gray managed to gather himself enough to explain the situation, "Wendy, Mom's in critical condition. She collapsed at work and her heart stopped. She's in Fiore Med Center's ER right now."

Wendy let out a choked sob as she struggled to process the information, but there was no time for the impact to truly sink in as the hatchback pulled into the visitor parking lot not a minute later.

The three sprinted into the ER; Gray was barreling through families and patients in an effort to reach the front desk, but Juvia and Wendy pulled him aside and apologized to the irate crowd. Gray was ready to protest, but a stern glare from the two blue-haired females quickly silenced him.

At length, a brown-haired ER doctor came out and called for the family of Ur Milkovich. As the trio approached, he looked slightly taken aback by the scrubs Gray and Juvia were wearing, or rather the logo printed on them.

"Fairy Tail, I see," he observed, shaking hands with Gray, Juvia, and Wendy, "Doranbolt Gryder."

"Fiore, I see," Gray responded snappily, fully aware of the animosity most other hospitals held for Fairy Tail because of their general rule that a breach of policy and convention is nothing in comparison to saving a life.

"You must be Mr. Gray Fullbuster," Doranbolt continued, unfazed, taking a peek at Gray's hospital badge. "A pleasure, Ms. Lockser," he continued, inclining his head to Juvia after glancing at her badge as well, "But who is this young lady?"

Gray's fists clenched, despite the perfectly innocent question, "Wendy Marvell, _my sister_."

"My apologies, Mr. Fullbuster. It is _Marvell-_ous to meet you, Wendy," the teen smiled slightly at the doctor's poor pun despite the constant cloud of worry looming over their heads. Gray, however, was not amused, "R-right. Bad time."

Suddenly, there was a ruckus in the nearby trauma bay, and a head poked out, "Doranbolt, Code Blue* on Ms. Milkovich! Get in here!"

Doranbolt's mannerisms immediately became serious and he stared down the trio in front of him, "I recommend family members stay here. Your mother is in serious condition from a yet-unknown cause. She came in a few minutes before you, and we got her stabilized, but it seems she's gone into cardiac arrest again."

Gray stepped forward rebelliously, "I can't wait here idly and not do anything! I'm coming!"

"Sir, I understand…" Doranbolt resisted, sensing the action to be quite futile.

"You understand nothing! Move aside or I'll be forced to move you myself!" Gray growled menacingly, focusing on nothing besides a nagging necessity to get to his mother.

"Sir, we don't have time for this. I will only allow you in once you have calmed down. Until then, you will be nothing but an obstacle getting in the way of your mother's care," Doranbolt demanded, turning to move to the bay.

Gray glared hard at the other man, but took a deep breath and said in a much more level tone, "I'm calm. Please let me help. Wendy, stay here."

The younger girl looked ready to object; however, a firm stare from her brother killed the impulse, and she sat down obediently.

"Juvia, you stay with Wendy," Gray ordered, already beginning to go into the bay after Doranbolt.

Juvia's eyebrows scrunched in displeasure as she walked over to sit next to Wendy. The younger girl was tapping her foot nervously, not even bothering to look up when Juvia sat down. After a moment, Wendy asked, "What is it that you do, Juvia?"

"I am a cardiologist. I study the heart and the diseases which affect it."

Wendy nodded, becoming reserved again, but a second later, her head shot up and she surveyed Juvia pleadingly, "Then you can figure out what's wrong with Mom! Please, you must help her!"

Juvia smiled sadly, "Unfortunately, I am unable to do so at the moment. I would need access to all her charts and labs, all of which are things hospitals do not distribute lightly."

"Then, can you examine her?"

"Wendy, I am sure that they have much more experienced cardiologists here to help. Don't worry too much."

The pair waited in tense silence for the doctors and nurses to successfully finish CPR. Time seemed to drag out: 15 minutes, 20 minutes, almost 30 minutes had passed, yet there seemed to be no improvement in the patient's heart function.

Juvia's very instinct was screeching at her to go in and help, but she heeded Gray's orders and stayed put, feeling Wendy needed the company more. But at the 30 minute mark, the commotion stopped, and it seemed the entire emergency room heaved a collective sigh of relief. A different doctor walked out of the trauma bay, drenched in sweat with a dull look in his eye, "Dr. Lockser? My name is Lahar. We need you in the bay."

Wendy looked frightfully between Lahar and Juvia, "Why? What's wrong? Will my mother be ok?"

Lahar looked over at the girl sympathetically and nodded noncommittally, "We can't say for sure, but she's been stabilized. We just need a cardiologist to come and examine her so we can treat her as soon as possible."

"Then, Dr. Lahar, what is it that you need with me?" Juvia looked at the man quizzically.

"You see, that's the problem. Our only cardiologists are currently occupied with cases. There's no other option in this entire hospital but you, and Mr. Fullbuster has assured us that you are quite the qualified physician."

Juvia was dumbstruck. She was now in charge of saving Gray's mother's life. Never in her wildest dreams (and she was notorious for having quite the bizarre ones) would she have ever imagined being trapped in this position. She glanced from Lahar's patiently waiting countenance to Wendy's pleading, yet encouragingly hopeful expression and couldn't find it within herself to deny either of them, "You know, since I work for a different hospital, I am not allowed to touch your patients."

Lahar nodded determinedly, "We will carry out your instructions. Don't worry"

Juvia completely caved and answered with a steely-eyed expression, "I'll do my best."

She was immediately rushed into the bay, only to be assaulted by the most heart-wrenching scene she'd ever witnessed. There lay Ms. Milkovich unmoving in her stretcher. Beside her, the heart monitor beeped excruciatingly slowly but steadily. The Code Blue squad were scattered around various portions of the room, trying to catch their breaths from the rigorous rounds of CPR. And there was Gray, with his head between his hands, also exhausted from the mental stress of watching an entire team of burly men try to resuscitate* a loved one.

It dawned upon her that this was the weakest she had ever seen Ms. Milkovich or Gray in all the time she had known the two. She remembered the sharp-tongued, yet kind woman from her high school days who always greeted her kindly with a warm smile, despite it being painfully obvious that Juvia was a little more than obsessed with her adopted son, that very son who was usually as strong and supportive as anybody could be.

The urge to save Gray's mother reaffirmed itself inside Juvia; she would diagnose and treat Ms. Milkovich for her and for her son.

The only problem was that Juvia was a pediatric cardiologist. She had no clue exactly what in a broad spectrum of problems could be afflicting the dark-haired woman. Yet, the longer she stood there analyzing the symptoms, the more some foggy residency memory seemed to wriggle out to the forefront of her mind.

"Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism*… " Juvia whispered after what seemed like an eternity, "Quick! Ms. Milkovich needs to go to CT* immediately!"

Doranbolt immediately caught onto the situation and dove for the phone, "I'm on it!"

The line finally came through, and the hope in Juvia slowly drained away as she watched Doranbolt's frown become more and more pronounced.

"Bad news," he said, "CT can't take her for another hour."

"We don't have an hour!" Juvia cried in disbelief, pacing up and down in agitation, only managing to come up with one solution to the issue. And it was something she wouldn't normally do as it was a serious violation of hospital policy, but the time called for it. Plus, she was a Fairy Tail doctor now; it was time to start acting like one, "Prep the tPA*!"

"You're trying to dissolve a clot that you aren't even certain exists?" Lahar asked in disbelief when he heard the order, "This could cause her to bleed out, and it is a serious breach of hospital policy. We can't risk it!"

Suddenly, Gray seemed to awaken from whatever daze he had been in and stood up determinedly, "Do you think we have any other options? You called Juvia in here, so you should listen to her!"

"That was under your recommendation!" Lahar argued, turning toward the anesthesiologist.

"I recommended her because I believe her to be the best hope we've got!" Gray yelled back heatedly, "And as the relative of the patient, I say we give the tPA a try."

Lahar still hesitated, quite uncertain and conflicted as to what to do. But Doranbolt had his mind made up. He brusquely swept past Lahar to get to the medicine cabinet and withdrew several little bottles and syringes. Doranbolt worked quickly with the medications, drawing the correct dosages into an empty syringe, and pushing it through the patient's IV.

There was a moment of complete silence as the drugs entered the woman's system, only for it to be broken by the shrill noise of a flat-line. Doranbolt cursed and rang the Code Blue again as the team once again commenced CPR.

As this happened, however, there was a different sense of urgency that was absent the first time around. CPR was an extremely risky maneuver to attempt while tPA was running its course. The trauma the body undergoes coupled with higher chances of bleeding out could lead to a grim outcome all around.

Juvia had retreated in shock and terror, mentally questioning whether she did the right thing, but knowing deep in her heart that she made the right choice. It was pure, unlucky coincidence that Ur chose that moment to code, but the seed of doubt had been planted. And very little could be done to uproot the germinating sprout besides the full recovery of the patient in question.

After a harrowing 10 minutes of resuscitation, the team recovered Ur's pulse and waited in dreaded anticipation for the highly likely internal bleeding to occur. They waited with bated breaths and no change in the stats, until the beeping on the heart monitor increased, getting stronger and stronger, and slowly recovering back to normal.

"Pulse steady! BP* rising!" Juvia breathed in wonder.

For one beautiful, shining moment, the sun broke through the clouds and shone on the occupants of trauma bay 1. Lahar stared in disbelief while Doranbolt teased him, the Code Blue team was high-fiving each other for a job well-done, and a teary-eyed Gray swept Juvia into a bone-crushing hug. But they were far from out-of-the-woods.

Patients should normally have begun to awaken by that point, but Ms. Milkovich remained unresponsive, dead to the world around her. The doctors became somber again as they conducted regular physical exams, all to no avail.

Finally, Doranbolt pulled Gray and Juvia aside and explained dejectedly, "I'm sorry. This was by no fault on either of your parts, but Ms. Milkovich… is in a coma."

* * *

**Whew! Aaand cut! I'm sorta glad this is how it ended up because I originally went into this chapter fully intent on killing Ur off. The original idea was to have her bleed out, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So I leave you with a glimmer of hope and lots of drama. We'll see how this goes! **

**Glossary:**

**Code Blue - An alarm when a patient goes into cardiac arrest that summons a "code team" immediately to commence CPR.**

**Resuscitate - To revive someone**

**Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism - (I simplified this definition) A large blood clot(s) in the lung arteries.**

**CT (scan) - Computed Tomography. An x-ray imaged created using computerized axial tomography.**

**tPA - Tissue Plasminogen Activator. A protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots.**

**BP - Blood Pressure**


	3. You've Got a Friend in Me

**Hey, a new chapter? Amazing! Sorry for the wait you guys, but I've been really busy recently and have finally found a bit of time to actually update. Hopefully I'll be posting new chapters more often now that it's summer. Also, thank you so much for your kind words and continued support of this fic. Y'all are awesome. Now onto the story (Spoiler: There's more Gruvia! And for those RoWen fanatics, you'll just have to bear with me. I'm getting there.)! Please read, enjoy, and review. Thanks!**

* * *

**You've Got a Friend in Me**

_"__I'm sorry. This was by no fault on either of your parts, but Ms. Milkovich… is in a coma."_

Gray's brain continuously reeled with Doranbolt's words as he lay in bed desolately three days after Ur's fated accident. In those three days, he had not bothered to eat, sleep, or change, opting to spend his mornings at Ur's bedside in Fiore Hospital and return home late in the afternoon to immediately fall into his current state. It goes without saying that his friends and colleagues were exceedingly worried about him, but it seemed like nobody's concerns made even the slightest impact on the grieving man.

Of his large group of friends, the one who cared for and understood his emotions the most was, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, Juvia. Of course, she was worried for him, but unlike the rest of the well-wishers, she understood that Gray needed his space. She had dropped him home the first day, leaving with a single promise to let Wendy stay at her apartment until he felt up to the task of taking care of his sister.

However, after three days of nonexistent improvement, Juvia decided to take matters into her own hands and force Gray back to daily life. Thus, armed with some freshly baked bread and a truckload of patience, Juvia found herself fidgeting nervously before the anesthesiologist's modest condo, mentally debating whether to press the doorbell or run for the hills.

Her shaky hand reached for the button, and before she could second-guess herself, jabbed it, causing Juvia to flinch backward in surprise at her own bold actions. The blaring _ding dong _that followed immediately brought her back to herself as she anxiously waited for Gray to answer the door. But once five minutes passed with no answer, Juvia wholeheartedly deliberated turning back and escaping the inevitably awkward confrontation that would otherwise occur. Unfortunately, Juvia's determination would not be denied so easily. After ringing the bell a couple more times and yelling Gray's name, she decided to tackle the situation from a different angle.

Feeling around the lining of her signature Cossack hat for something to aid her task, Juvia steeled her nerves against the knowledge that what she was planning to do would possibly get her arrested. She released a breath she wasn't sure she had been holding and pulled out a simple bobby pin. Warping the flexible metal into the desired shape, the reluctant criminal inserted one end into Gray's doorknob and started jiggling it in the lock. After several moments of focused silence, there was a telltale click, signaling that Juvia's lock-picking escapade had been successful.

Deciding that Gray deserved at least a warning about what she was about to do, Juvia shouted, "Gray! If you don't come open the door, I'm coming in!" She was just preparing to push the door open when she felt the resistance vanish, allowing the wooden obstacle to fly wide open.

"What do you want, Juvia?"

The blue-haired woman's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she took in the spectacle before her. There stood an exceedingly unkempt, almost unrecognizable Gray Fullbuster, donned in nothing but a pair of boxers. His scraggly hair was tangled beyond belief, his slate gray eyes had dark bags underneath them, and he was sporting an immensely uncharacteristic five o'clock shadow.

"G-Gray? What have you been doing to yourself?" Juvia asked in concern, subconsciously reaching forward to lay a hand on his cheek. The man shrank back at the move and motioned for Juvia to enter the condo.

"Come in before the neighbors get ideas," he said gruffly, slamming the door shut after Juvia and following her to the living room, "How'd you find this place?"

"There is a man named Natsu Dragneel," Juvia stated, slipping her phone out of her purse and holding it up sheepishly.

Gray rolled his eyes and grunted, flopping down onto his couch, "If you're another person here to tell me to get my life together, leave. I've heard it all before."

"But have you listened?" Juvia asked dryly, rapidly becoming irritated at the irrational display of obstinacy.

Gray's scowl deepened, and he looked away from her, but he gave no verbal response.

Juvia sighed in frustration and stood up, "Be that way then. See if I care. I came here on my off day and risked getting arrested for breaking and entering, just to talk to a wall. It seems I wasted my time. Maybe I will accept Lyon's invitation for some coffee."

As soon as Gray's head snapped up, Juvia knew she had won. "No, please stay. But when did that glorified donkey get here?" he demanded, standing up as well.

Juvia giggled at the man's choice of words, "I do believe his name is Lyon, and he got here yesterday."

"And…"

"Erza took him to see Ur immediately. Don't worry."

Gray rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Worried? As if…"

Juvia smiled slightly but immediately turned serious again, glaring at Gray, "Now on to what I came here for…" The man opposite her tried to look nonchalant, but Juvia's hawk eyes caught his slight blanch of fear, a reaction that she relished tremendously, "You need to get it together, Gray! You will do no one any help by isolating and neglecting yourself."

"Look, Juvia. She's dying. My mother is _dying_, and I'm not allowed to grieve in peace?" Gray retorted with his arms crossed defiantly over his chest.

Looking over at the dark-haired man's bare chest, Juvia shook her head and turned away to look for a shirt. She finally managed to find an acceptable-smelling shirt among the masses strewn around the room and walked back over to the man.

"Sit," she demanded. Gray immediately complied. Juvia wrestled to get the shirt over his head for a second before she continued their previous conversation, "What is there to grieve about? She's not dead."

Gray helped Juvia shove his head through the collar of the shirt and finished up putting the article of clothing on. He looked over and saw the woman scavenging through a pile of discarded pants.

"Well, she's as close to death as you can get," Gray sighed in defeat, taking the pair of jeans from Juvia's hands and pulling them on himself, "I would know."

"Why would you say that when there's nothing wrong with her besides the coma?" Juvia said, "Enjoy having her here while you can…"

She trailed off and looked down dejectedly, leaving Gray momentarily confused. However, a minute later, he picked up on the words' connotation and balked, "Wait, wait. I'm sorry Juvia. I didn't mean… Look, I should be happy that I got to have a second mother figure in my life… I forgot that you… I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Juvia managed to muster up a watery smile, "Just promise me you won't take what you already have in life for granted, okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Gray agreed immediately, looking down at his hands as they fell into an uncomfortable silence. He was mentally floundering for a conversation topic, when Juvia seemed to remember something.

She walked over to and opened Gray's fridge, expecting to see it devoid of anything edible. And the sight did not disappoint; however, instead of finding it completely empty, Juvia found herself face-to-face with the embodiment of death and decay itself.

As soon as she had pulled open the doors, a monstrous blast of pure stench burst out with a vengeance. Juvia immediately turned away and doubled over, gagging in revulsion.

"W-What do you have in th-there?" She choked out amidst a bout of wheezing.

The owner of the offending refrigerator ambled over to assess the damage, and followed suit in falling victim to the powerful odor as soon as he got within ten feet of the neglected appliance. Gray covered his nose and mouth once his coughing fit subsided and tentatively peered into the depths of rotten despair, promptly identifying the source of their pain.

"It's the raw produce," he groaned, "I should have thrown it out a week ago."

Juvia glanced at stomach-churning decomposing plant matter and turned her distressed gaze on Gray, "This is a prime example of why I was so worried. I cannot believe you would let yourself mope in this rotting cesspool for three days."

Gray had the decency to appear guilty, but quickly rearranged his priorities, "Agh, I'm sorry, but for God's sake, please close the fridge!"

Juvia did so with the utmost urgency and hauled open all the windows while Gray set off in search of some air freshener. He returned a few minutes later with the can of odor-masking chemicals. As he sprayed the room with it, Juvia stared reluctantly at the cleaning materials she had compiled as she waited for Gray to finish his job.

Once the air was once again breathable, Gray set down the air freshener can and went over to help Juvia. Thus, armed with nothing but rubber gloves, some medical masks, and nerves of steel, the pair opened the nostril death trap and dove in.

"Where's the stuff you need to throw out?" Juvia asked through watering eyes.

"Crap, it's all in the very back. And the goo has been dripping down to lower shelves." Gray cursed as he sat pondering their course of action. Meanwhile, the pungent odor lazily drifted about the room. After a minute of deliberation, Gray could no longer stand the stench and yelled with fiery determination, "Forget it! We'll trash it all!"

"You sure, Gray? That's a lot of potentially good food you're throwing away," the blue-haired woman next to him cautioned.

"Does anything in here look even the slightest bit appetizing?" Gray growled through the putrid odor.

If Juvia were to be honest with him, no, not even the freshest food looked very tasty or edible. However, instead of openly insulting Gray's culinary choices, she just started chucking everything into the bag with Gray eagerly following her lead.

"We're going to have to restock your fridge, you know," Juvia said as she collapsed next to her colleague after their arduous task.

"Yeah, there's a supermarket pretty close to here."

Juvia rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant. You're going to have to go get cleaned up and say hello to the outside world again. I won't give you any choice on the matter."

Gray looked about ready to protest, but decided against it upon seeing the serious expression on the woman's face, nodding to acknowledge he had heard her.

"Good, now go shower or whatever. I need to go back to my place to freshen up too."

"Wait, how far do you live, Juvia? You could just shower here."

"Actually, my house is only a few minutes away. You go shower. I'll be back by the time you're done," Juvia reassured him with a smile and left.

* * *

Juvia quickly rushed home to her apartment and barged into the door, making Wendy jump. The teenager spun around on the couch, her books flying everywhere.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Wendy!"

"It's… okay," Wendy gasped out, "How was your meeting with Gray?"

"Good. We need to go shopping for food so neither of you will starve once you move in," Juvia scowled, recalling the torture she had just undergone.

Wendy sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose, "Is that why you smell like rotten vegetables?"

The cardiologist hummed noncommittally and sped to the bathroom without another word.

As she was leaving to return to Gray's condo after a quick rinse, Juvia glanced over at Wendy's work, only to find the girl on her phone. "Who are you texting?" Juvia asked out of pure curiosity,

Wendy's cheeks flared red, and she tried to hide her blush from the older woman, "U-um, nobody…"

"Sure, it's nobody," Juvia said doubtfully. Suddenly, a playful glint appeared in her eye as she smiled suggestively, "Or is it your beloved Romeo? Oh, it's such a wonderful story of two long-distance lovers! One sits alone in the hospital, severely injured, while the other worries on in a relative stranger's home. Nothing but texts connects young Romeo with his Juliet!" Juvia continued to fawn as she played her fantasy within her head, garnering a concerned and very embarrassed look from Wendy.

"I-It's not like that! I was just asking him a question about our finals!" Wendy protested, but the older woman was currently unreachable, "Juvia!"

There was no response, for the doctor seemed permanently stuck in her own little world. Wendy could do nothing but tune out the ramblings and try to think of a way to snap her out of it. With very few options in mind, the teenager spoke up, "You need to get back to Gray's…"

As soon as the name left Wendy's mouth, Juvia jolted back to attention and stopped herself mid-sentence. The cardiologist stared at the girl silently with a confused expression before she realized what had occurred. Juvia blushed profusely and look down at her feet, "Ah, Juvia is sorry…" Then, realizing she had slipped back to the third person, she slapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head before continuing, "I-I am sorry. High school me never truly left, it seems."

Wendy looked at the woman, slightly shocked, before giggling and saying, "It's okay. You really had quite the personality back then… Wait, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that! You still have a wonderful personality! It just seems like it was much more exaggerated… back then…" She trailed off awkwardly, afraid she had unintentionally offended the woman who was kind enough to house her for the past three days.

Now it was Juvia's turn to giggle as she smiled at the flustered girl, "Don't worry. I take no offense! You know, I used to be called gloomy in middle school since I was very shy and a little sad. So when high school started, I changed my outlook on life and began living it as who I really was. Unfortunately, I subconsciously added a little too much exaggeration to my personality. I've done away with most of the excess craziness. Unfortunately, I still have those moments."

Wendy frowned slightly, "You shouldn't have had to hide who you are. I still remember that one time Gray introduced me to his friends. Don't tell him I said this, but you were my favorite."

"Oh, right. I had forgotten Gray had introduced us once," Juvia blushed darker as she recalled more of her slightly less admirable actions regarding her crush on Gray that Wendy undoubtedly remembered as well.

"I don't judge the past you in the slightest, but I like this real you even more." Wendy said softly, glancing timidly at Juvia, "It's better for you and everyone else if you show your real emotions and personality instead of trying masking it."

"Thank you, Wendy," Juvia said before looking up to check the time, "I should get back to your brother's house. You should also get back to texting your little boyfriend."

The woman smiled mischievously as she saw Wendy's cheeks go red again, but she slipped away before the girl could say anything in protest.

* * *

Juvia returned to Gray's condo only to find herself locked out again. She rang the bell, but there was no response. Assuming that Gray was still showering, Juvia decided to sit down on the doorstep, hoping the man would open the front door eventually. However, just as she was getting comfortable on the prickly door mat, the door swung open to reveal a dripping wet Gray, clad only in a pair of sweatpants with white foam coating the lower half of his face. He quickly ushered her in and slammed the door, glancing outside the window at the neighboring condos nervously.

"Gray, did I interrupt you? I'm so sorry. You did not need to come and open the door. I was going to wait…" Juvia muttered awkwardly as she realized she was rambling.

Gray smiled slightly at her and said, "Don't worry, Juvia. I'll just go finish this up now. Make yourself comfortable out here."

Juvia glanced around at the clothes and other garbage strewn across living room and smirked jokingly, "That looks really comfortable, Gray…" The man scowled and rolled his eyes as Juvia wiped a glop of shaving cream from his chin and rubbed it on his nose, "Now go kill that beastly facial hair."

Gray scratched his foam-covered chin pensively, "I might actually start growing it out, now that I think about it."

Juvia struggled to stifle her laughter at the statement, but she was slightly shocked that he was actually joking with her, "No! That beast has to go. You look like a creep."

Gray shrugged apathetically and said, "What if I like it?"

"Then I won't be seen in public with you or your beard," the woman retorted stubbornly, trying to hide her nervousness.

He raised an eyebrow challengingly, "Strange… I seem to recall that you were all for that goatee I had in college." Juvia opened her mouth to object, but Gray had already disappeared back to his bathroom with a victorious smirk.

"That little…" Juvia fumed as she plopped down on the couch. Glancing around the condo, she quickly spotted the picture frames on the fireplace mantel and crept towards it to take a closer look. There were the typical family photos of him, Ur, Lyon, Ultear, and Wendy. Juvia's eyes then landed on several of his graduation and class photos. She was about to turn away from the lackluster array of pictures when a particularly small frame caught her eye. Peering down, Juvia realized with a jolt that she was featured in the picture; in fact, it showed only Gray and her.

Examining the photograph closer, she noticed that it had been taken during one of their high school swim meets, the regional championships of her freshman year if she remembered correctly. It showed the two of them with towels draped over their competitive swimwear and first place medals hanging from their necks. Gray had wrapped his arm around Juvia's shoulders with a cool, but obviously happy expression, and she was smiling ecstatically as she hugged him back. Juvia tried to recall when this was taken because they definitely didn't pose for it.

"Oh, that picture."

Juvia jumped and whirled around in surprise at Gray's voice, heart pounding wildly in her chest, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"What?" He asked with false innocence, "I wasn't sneaking. Call it quietly walking, if you will."

"Whatever you call it, just don't do it again," Juvia frowned before turning back to the photograph, "But yes, that picture. Who took it?"

Gray thought for a moment before his eyes lit up, "Right, I remember now. Erza took it with Natsu's camera. The Flame Brain had been going through a photography phase (I'm pretty sure it was an act to impress Lucy), and Erza threatened to beat him up if he didn't let her use it for the day."

Juvia giggled, "So that's why Natsu brought his camera with him everywhere for those three months."

Gray nodded affirmatively as he rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Flame Idiot sent me that photo once he discovered it in his camera's memory card, probably to blackmail me."

"Then why is it over your fireplace, Gray?"

"Because I like it," At Juvia's disbelieving snort, Gray glanced at her in confusion, "What? It's a nice picture."

Juvia raised an eyebrow and directed her gaze toward the man, "There has to be more than that if it's sitting over your fireplace."

"I-I…" Gray looked physically uncomfortable under the woman's intense stare as he fidgeted.

Upon seeing an unusual red hue spread across Gray's cheeks, Juvia backpedaled, "I'm so sorry, Gray. That was too blunt. I didn't mean to pry. You don't have to say anything!" Juvia chuckled nervously and backed away slightly, thinking to herself, _Why is it like I'm back in high school? We're acting like we used to back then. Get a grip on yourself, Juvia!_

Gray snapped out of his embarrassment-induced daze once he noticed the woman's restlessness, "No, I'll tell you. It's because that was the first time I had seen you really happy and being yourself."

Recalling her conversation with Wendy, Juvia asked, "How so?"

"Well," Gray answered thoughtfully, "your smile was the brightest I'd ever seen on anybody's face, and you weren't trying to hide your emotions under that facade like you'd been doing all year."

Juvia flushed bright red and turned away in an attempt to clear her head, "I see. Thanks for explaining. We should go get the groceries now." She started walking to the door, but Gray caught her wrist in his iron grip. Juvia spun around, breaking free of the man's grasp.

"I… apologize for being so rough, but please wait," Gray mumbled, seemingly unsure about what he was doing.

"Y-Yes?" Juvia stammered, her heart beating hard within her ribcage.

"I wanted to thank you. For, you know, coming here to cheer me up…"

"Of course, if you ever need anything, I'm here to help," Juvia said softly, "Now, let's go before––"

But whatever she was about to say next was cut off when she was suddenly pulled forward. As she fell, Gray wrapped his strong arms around her smaller frame, clinging to her like he would a lifeline.

"Gray…" She mumbled into the man's shirt, completely shocked by what had just occurred.

"Do you consider yourself my friend, Juvia?" Gray whispered.

"Yes, did you even have to ask?" Juvia answered, wondering what exactly was running through his head, "What about you?"

"Mhmm," Despite the lack of words, Juvia could feel Gray nod against the top of her head, "And as a friend, would you stay by my side no matter what happens?"

"No matter what," Juvia echoed, looking up as she felt the man hugging her start to shake. Within seconds, the quaking had evolved into wracking sobs as the man cried out all the grief that he could no longer contain. It was then that Juvia realized why Gray had sequestered himself like he had for the past three days.

_You didn't allow yourself to cry, did you? You tried bottling in the pain, and in doing so rendered yourself too emotionally unstable to include yourself back into the normal flow of society. But I understand your sorrow now, Gray. You're not alone, _Juvia mused as she hugged the broken man back, trying to convey as much compassion and comfort to him as possible through such a simple action.

"I didn't do anything," Gray gasped as his sobs momentarily subsided, "I _couldn't_ do anything."

Juvia caught on to what Gray was referring immediately, but thought it best to let him get it out of his system.

"I'm a failure. I'm a failure. I'm a failure," he kept repeating to himself over and over again. Juvia just hugged him tighter and gently rubbed his back as he released all the thoughts that had been plaguing him since the accident. She slowly maneuvered Gray over to the living room couches and gently pushed him down, taking a seat next to him and wrapping her arms around him again, rocking back and forth. His sobbing resumed as he mumbled the continuous mantra to himself in his own paradoxical way of healing.

* * *

**And _fin_. That ended on quite the sad note. I did not mean to do that. Well anyway, hope you guys liked the little step forward in the Gruvia-lationship. Sorry for all the OOCness in this chapter. I really tried to keep it IC, but sadly it was not to be. Next chapter is probably going to be in Gray's PoV, so just a heads up for that. I'll alert you to that when I post the next chapter. Ok, love you guys and thanks for reading! DragonSlayerArts, out!**


	4. A Sibling Rivalry

**Hello there! I'm back,yay! I'm going to make this short(er) and sweet, since I you have all been eagerly anticipating this new chapter (at least it would be that way in my ideal world). This was supposed to be all in Gray's PoV, but it sort of drifts in between PoV's later, so sorry about that. With that, on to the story. Please read, review, and enjoy! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. All rights go to Hiro Mashima. **

* * *

**A Sibling Rivalry**

As Gray sat with Juvia, crying all his sorrows out into her shirt, he noticed two things. One, Juvia was really warm, and two, the steady running of her hand through his hair felt surprisingly good.

His tears eventually ran themselves dry, and he sat back on the couch, mentally and emotionally drained from everything that had occurred. Gray tried not to make eye contact with Juvia as his mouth set in a solid frown, feeling slightly ashamed of what he had just put the woman beside him through. Finally, after gathering every last dreg of his courage, he looked over at her, expecting to find some sort of judgment directed his way. Instead, he found only warmth and care in those unique blue eyes. Suddenly, the sensation of his heart doing a weird gymnastics routine in his chest prompted him to say something and break the suffocating silence. He opened his mouth, struggling for something to say. Juvia simply sat through the fumbling patiently, waiting for him to vocalize his thoughts.

"Why didn't you leave?" he blurted out bluntly, looking over at his clock, which read 6:00 P.M. The sky outside was still bright, but you could see the slightest tinge of rosy red over the horizon, "You should have gone home for dinner."

"How could I leave you in the state you were in?" Juvia asked almost incredulously, as though it were comparable to a felony, "Besides, I ate a late lunch, and Wendy has free reign of my refrigerator."

Gray nodded absently, but then her words' meaning crashed into him, "Wendy! How is she?" He cursed under his breath as he realized how bad of a brother he had been, looking for his phone so he could give her a call and check up on her.

Juvia grabbed his abandoned cellular device off the coffee table for him and handed it over. Gray snatched it away with a mumbled 'thanks' and immediately began flipping through his contacts. After a moment of tense scrolling, he pressed on one of them and held the phone up to his ear, scowling as Juvia giggled at him in slight amusement.

The phone beeped twice before Wendy answered. "Gray! Are you okay? How are you? Is Juvia still with you?"

Gray held up a hand at the rapid flow of questions, despite knowing there was no way Wendy could see him, "Woah, woah, slow down. What was the first thing?"

"Well never mind. Just your talking answered my first questions. But is Juvia with you?" Wendy asked worriedly, probably thinking something terrible had happened to her host and new-found friend.

"Juvia is fine. She's just…" Gray trailed away, realizing at that moment just what Juvia had spent the last two hours doing.

He glanced over at the blue-haired woman for help, and she whispered, "About to take you to the grocery store."

"…Just about to take you, er, _me_ to the grocery store," he answered awkwardly, mouthing a 'thank you' to Juvia and adding, "Well, if that's okay with you, of course."

Wendy hesitated, giving the feeling she would object, but instead said shyly, "O-Oh, so it's a little date, since I assume you two will be having dinner too?"

Gray flushed and turned away from a watchful Juvia, hissing into his phone, "It's not a date! We're just buying food."

"And eating some… _together_," his sister teased, gaining momentum through the man's lame reason, and giggled before changing the subject, "So, am I going to move in with you until Mom gets better?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I should have been taking care of you this whole time," Gray replied remorsefully, switching to concerned older brother mode in an instant.

"I-It's okay," Wendy said reassuringly, knowing her brother would beat himself up about it.

Gray mustered up a smile and said, "Well, once I make this place livable again, I'll get you out of Juvia's hair."

Juvia looked up and frowned, angrily shoving her nose right in front of Gray's face, "She is not 'in my hair' as you would say. It's been lovely having her stay over." The dark-haired man paled, inching away, extremely uncomfortable with their close proximity.

"Um, right, did you hear that Wendy?" he mumbled nervously. From the other line, Gray heard a slight giggle.

"Ok, thanks Juvia. I'll start getting ready then. Now go and get me some food. Bye!" Wendy laughed and hung up on Gray, making his eyebrow twitch.

"That little pipsqueak used to be cuter twelve years ago," he muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

Juvia lightly smacked his shoulder, "Be nice." She stood up and stretched before slinging her purse over her shoulder, "So, are we going or not?"

Gray hummed in agreement, grabbing his wallet and keys from the coffee table, "All right, come on." He led the way out to his garage with Juvia walking happily in his wake. Pulling open the passenger side door on his old SUV, Gray gestured for Juvia to climb in before making his way over to the driver's seat.

Juvia watched calmly as he started the car and proceeded to back out, mentally squealing as he put an arm on the back of her seat to look out the back windshield. She rarely saw Gray in anything other than rather unflattering scrubs and lab coats over the past several years, so seeing him clad in a casual t-shirt and baggy sweatpants made her strangely flustered. She flushed as she remembered his style from their high school days. It hadn't changed much in the present day, but Juvia felt that it suited the more mature Gray better.

"–via. Juvia! You're staring," Gray called, glancing at the woman out the corner of his eye.

Juvia jumped as she was startled out of her thoughts. She turned bright red and looked away, stammering, "S-Sorry. Ju-Juvia wasn't staring. No, she w-was th-thinking about what to-to buy!"

Gray rolled his eyes, but a faint smile lingered on his lips, "Sure you were."

The two drove in silence for a few minutes before Gray turned on the radio. Classic rock music spontaneously filled the car. "Feel free to change the station if you don't like it," he said, putting his hand back on the wheel. Juvia grinned and simply turned up the volume, sitting back to enjoy the song.

After a moment, Gray said, "I didn't expect you to like this kind of music."

Juvia giggled, "Well, I did grow up with Gajeel."

A mental image of a guitar-playing black-haired teen with an extensive array of piercings popped into Gray's mind, and he raised an eyebrow, "Right, I had forgotten about that. How's he doing? Is he still dating Levy?"

"He's become a member of the Crocus police force and works part time as a blacksmith," Juvia beamed proudly, "Plus, he and Levy just got engaged!"

Gray's eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed, "Really? Wow, it looks like he beat the rest of us to the punch."

Juvia laughed lightly, "Seems so. But I don't think Natsu and Lucy are too far behind."

"What do you mean? Natsu's denser than a block of lead. Those two will never get together," he said incredulously, laughing at the pure ludicrousness of those two entering a relationship anytime soon.

"I wouldn't speak too soon if I were you," Juvia warned, continuing at Gray's questioning look, "Lucy asked Natsu out yesterday."

Gray's jaw dropped, and he snorted, "Of course it was Lucy who asked the Flame Brain out and not the other way around. I guess she finally got tired of waiting."

"If it were up to Natsu, Lucy would have had to wait an eternity and a half to finally have her feelings reciprocated," Juvia sighed, rolling her eyes at the pink-haired man's obliviousness.

The two shared a laugh at their friends' expense as Gray pulled into a parking spot. They walked into the store, still chatting amiably about whatever came to mind, before Gray stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Juvia asked in concern, noticing the irritated expression that was slowly spreading across Gray's face.

Instead of answering, Gray growled, "Lyon."

Said man turned from the frozen foods section at the mention of his name. He looked around for whoever said it before his gaze landed on Gray. Smiling innocently, he approached the two doctors, causing Gray to clench his jaw and try to push Juvia behind him.

"Why, if it isn't my beloved Juvia!" Lyon cried, staring at the woman with starry eyes, "I see you simply couldn't stay away from my charms."

Juvia shot the man a tight-lipped smile and contemplated shuffling closer to Gray, but she was pulled from her human shield before she could move. In an instant, she found herself in a very uncomfortable dip, with Lyon's face hovering inches away from her nose. "Um, Lyon… Would you please…?"

"Please… Take you out to dinner? Why yes, I would be delight––!" Suddenly, Juvia saw Lyon get yanked backward by an unknown saving grace, who unfortunately removed the only support Juvia had keeping her upright. She squeaked as she toppled backward, bracing herself for an impact that would never come. Instead, she felt two hands slip under her just in time and gently set her back on her feet. Opening her eyes, Juvia found Gray standing beside her, with a steadying hand on her shoulder. Blushing fiercely, she looked away, muttering a quick _thanks_.

Gray smiled gently at her before furrowing his brow at his brother, "What do you want?"

"Oh, Gray, you were here too?" Lyon asked blankly, relishing Gray's annoyed muttering, before scoffing, "Is that any way to greet your brother?"

"You're one to talk!" The younger brother sneered, "Yanking Juvia into a weird contortionist movement and not even acknowledging my presence."

"I saw a pretty girl. Sue me. Besides, who would ever notice you over the beautiful Juvia Lockser?" Lyon bowed toward Juvia with a flourish, causing Gray's eyebrows to twitch.

A nearby little boy pointed at the spectacle, asking his mother loudly, "Mama! Mama! Why is the weird man bowing?" His mother took one glance and rushed the child away urgently.

Gray dragged his hand over his face, glaring at his adoptive brother in disgust, "Stand up, Idiot. You're making a scene."

"Tch, you're just jealous that you can't be as good as I am," Lyon said, flicking a piece of snowy white hair arrogantly as he straightened up.

"Why would I be jealous of a man who can't seem to take a hint?" Gray scowled, turning away and taking hold of Juvia's wrist, "Come on, Juvia. We've got stuff we need to buy."

Juvia allowed herself to be tugged along silently, not sure what to say in such a situation. Suddenly, Lyon said coldly, "Gray, you're not off the hook."

The dark-haired man released his hold on Juvia's wrist and spun around, glaring at his brother as though daring him to elaborate. Juvia paled as her eyes widened, realizing what Lyon was about say. She looked pleadingly at the silver-haired man, silently begging him to drop the matter, but for the first time ever, Lyon ignored her and barreled on, "No matter how many times your friends tell me it's not your fault, I simply can't accept it." Lowering his voice and stalking over to Gray, he snarled menacingly into the younger man's ear, "You're the doctor in this family, and you failed to do your job. If Ur doesn't pull through, it's on your head."

Lyon roughly shoved past his brother, heading to the checkout counter, not sparing a single backward glance toward either of them. Juvia looked worriedly at the eerily quiet Gray. His bangs covered his eyes, so she couldn't quite decipher his thoughts, but the man's gritted teeth and clenched fists were indication enough of his emotional state. Knowing the man was about to blow up, Juvia quickly pulled him toward the nearest aisle, away from the curious gazes of the onlookers, before she gingerly laid a hand on his shoulder, whispering, "Gray, we're in a public place. You can't explode right now. Try to control yourself, please."

At first, the words seemed to have no effect on him, but after a minute, he began to loosen up and looked straight at her. Juvia almost flinched at the sight of the pain reflected in Gray's eyes. He nodded hesitantly as he began emotionlessly scanning the shelves for appealing food. Juvia walked next to him silently, casting the occasional sad glance at him, but otherwise just trying to give him some space. Grocery shopping continued in that subdued manner, eventually culminating thirty minutes and 200 dollars later.

As soon as Gray and Juvia got back into the car, Gray slammed his hand onto the horn as hard as he could. The resounding blast almost burst Juvia's eardrums as she stuffed her fingers into her ears. Several birds started out of a nearby tree. Gray held the horn out for a few seconds before relaxing his arm and letting the noise die out. Miraculously, no one came out of the store to investigate.

As soon as Gray's hand fell limply into his lap, Juvia draped an arm over his shoulders and pulled him into a one-armed hug. She felt him tense up before he melted into the embrace, shaking with anger. Juvia knew the best thing for her to do was to provide silent morale support, which she hoped would alleviate some of the pain that had been resurfaced so violently.

Juvia had been absentmindedly playing with Gray's hair as her mind started wandering, when she heard Gray mumble something. Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked down at him confusedly, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm feeling better now. Can you please let me go," was the reply. Juvia quickly snatched back her arm and sat back in her seat, feeling like she had done something wrong. Staring fixedly at her hands, she tried to think of something, anything, to distract from the crushing silence.

A minute later, Gray sighed, "Thanks. I needed that."

Juvia looked up so quickly, she was surprised she didn't get whiplash. Relief washed over her as she realized she did not just smother him and ruin their friendship. "Of course, anything for a friend," she said, "I'll stand by you no matter what."

Gray's eyes widened as he experienced a bout of déjà vu. Closing his eyes, he tried to recall when he had said something very similar before. Suddenly, it hit him.

_"__And as a friend, would you stay by my side no matter what?"_

_ "__No matter what."_

It had been his way of seeking a confirmation of friendship from Juvia earlier that day. He smiled slightly, knowing Juvia would always be there for him, and he made a mental vow to always be there to support her as well. _No matter what,_ he repeated to himself,_ no matter what._

"Gray? Gray, you okay?" Juvia's concerned voice broke through his thoughts.

He turned his head to look at her, smiling to show that he really was fine. Juvia relaxed a little, but still looked at him in concern. Growing a little uncomfortable under her careful scrutiny, Gray scratched his head thoughtfully. "So, where would you like to go for dinner? My treat," he said at last, looking out his windshield at the setting sun.

"I have no idea. Anything you pick will be fine," the blunette said.

Gray thought for a moment before he snapped his fingers, "Have you ever been to 8-Island Restaurant?"

"Isn't it a pretty famous restaurant in Hargeon?" Juvia asked, "Don't tell me we're driving all the way there!"

"No way," Gray chuckled, "No, the owner's built a second one here in Magnolia. I think they just opened a few days ago. So, is that our final decision?"

"Sure!" Juvia nodded happily and jabbed the radio button on the dashboard.

* * *

"What? We have to wait thirty minutes?" Gray asked in disbelief, looking down at the pager that the waitress had slapped unceremoniously into his hand.

Juvia set a hand on Gray's arm soothingly, ignoring the glare the waitress shot at her, "It's all right. I'm fine with waiting. If you don't want to, we can find another place to eat."

The man sighed and said grumpily, "Fine, we'll wait."

"Of course," the woman simpered in an overly happy manner, "But if you come help me out in the cooler, your wait won't feel half as long… if you know what I mean. Just leave your little friend here." She winked suggestively at Gray, causing him to force back a gag.

Juvia looked between the two in horrified disgust and dragged Gray away, grumbling angrily to herself. She pushed him into an empty seat against the wall and plopped herself down next to him. Crossing her arms, Juvia glared back over to the waitress who was still staring at the anesthesiologist hungrily.

Leaning over to the man, Juvia whispered irritably, feeling an unpleasant burning in the pit of her stomach, "Play along."

"Huh? What are you doing, Juvia?" he asked, turning his head so he could see the blunette. He immediately noticed the evil glint in her eye and gulped, knowing she was not planning anything good.

Without warning, Juvia yanked Gray toward her by the collar and placed the hand closest to the wall on his cheek, covering his mouth inconspicuously with her thumb. Before the dark-haired man could protest or even react, she quickly leaned in, kissed her thumb, and pulled back, trying to ignore her racing heart and furious blush before glancing at the waitress from the corner of her eye.

Juvia watched in satisfaction as the flirty employee seemed to experience a spontaneous choking fit, complete with gasping and spluttering. Then, remembering Gray, Juvia looked back at him shyly, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way. However, her hopes seemed to be in vain as her eyes landed on his dumbstruck expression. Trying to salvage what was left of her name in Gray's good books, Juvia nudged him before he could draw his own conclusions and nodded toward the waitress discreetly. Gray followed her line of sight and almost burst out laughing. Instead of yelling at her like she thought he would, he shot her a thumbs-up and said, "Well played, Juvia. That was great."

"Aw, Natsu! Look at the two lovebirds!" somebody suddenly squealed from behind Juvia.

Juvia almost fell out of her chair as she turned around, finding herself face to face with Lucy. "Lucy! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you and Natsu be on a date?"

The blonde smiled and stepped back, "Yeah, that's what we're doing right now! I didn't expect to see you two here. How are you doing, Gray?"

Gray's eyes dulled slightly, but he shook it off and smiled, "I'm fine, thanks. You look stunning tonight, Lucy." He gestured toward her formal-casual outfit.

"Oh stop it, you," Lucy laughed, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

A familiar screech echoed in the recesses of Juvia's mind, _Love Rival!_ But she shrugged it off and smiled, "Really thought, you look great, Lucy! Natsu must be delighted."

Lucy's blushed harder at the mention of Natsu's name. Suddenly, the salmon-haired date himself appeared next to Lucy and threw an arm around her shoulders, "Of course I am. I'm on a date with the most wonderful woman in the world!" Lucy giggled and kissed Natsu on the cheek, causing him to turn pink too.

"Ugh, get a room, you two!" Gray grumbled, looking away from the pair uncomfortably.

"Oh please, Ice Pants," Natsu rolled his eyes, "It's not like you and Juvia weren't just lip locking a few minutes ago."

"There was a reason!" the dark haired man barked defensively.

"Yeah, the reason being that _you love Juvia_!" Lucy sang, joining in on the teasing.

"Shut up!" Both Gray and Juvia shouted at last, unable to take it any longer. Natsu's and Lucy's responses were cut off as their pager went off. The couple walked away laughing, with Lucy turning around and winking back at Juvia.

"What a pain," Gray scoffed, looking at Natsu's retreating back, "I really hope we're not seated near them." Juvia nodded in agreement.

* * *

As it turned out, Juvia and Gray were seated right across the aisle from their coworkers. Gray mentally gagged at the pair's excessive flirting, wishing for the nightmare to be over. However, he put on a smile once he noticed how rude his behavior was, so he started talking to Juvia to distract himself from the horrors of his life.

"So, what's been going on at work?" he asked, grasping at straws in an attempt to block out Natsu and Lucy.

"You really don't like listening to them, do you?" Juvia said knowingly, jerking an eyebrow in their friends' direction.

"Tell me about it," Gray muttered, "But I do want to know the latest gossip, since so much can apparently happen in three days." He rolled his eyes and pointed to the happy couple across the way.

Juvia thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "I guess you could consider Erza eating a whole cake for lunch 'gossip.' Otherwise, nothing else happened. The talk mainly focused on Lucy's asking Natsu out and your wellbeing."

Gray blushed at the last part, once again reminded about how much he had worried the rest of the staff. Realizing it was no use getting hung up over it, he changed the subject, "Oh, did Wendy manage to get her cat from the house?"

"Yes, thank goodness my apartment complex allows pets. Otherwise, I would have had to ask Natsu to look after Carla. And you know how much that cat hates Happy," Juvia said.

"Well, no one likes Flame Brain's cat besides him anyway," Gray scoffed, thinking about his rival's overly-hyper and somewhat dumb pet.

Juvia opened her mouth to protest, but really could not think of anything in the cat's defense. She had only met Happy a handful of times, and he had been too busy cuddling up to Natsu to interact with her. Closing her mouth, she sighed, "True, true."

"How's Carla doing?" Gray asked, genuinely curious about what the pampered feline would do in an unfamiliar setting.

Juvia rolled her eyes again, "She's doing fine. Um, no offense to Wendy or anything, but that cat walks around like she owns the place and turns her nose up at everything. And I mean everything. It's like having a perpetually dissatisfied parent."

Gray laughed, able imagine the scene perfectly, "Yes, she is quite the little queen. And honestly, the only reason I tolerate her is for Wendy's sake."

The cardiologist giggled, "Don't let Wendy hear you saying that."

"Oh, she knows," Gray rolled his eyes, "If it were up to me, I would stick her with a dog instead."

"Really? I never imagined you as a dog person," Juvia said in surprise. Gray had always struck her as apathetic to all animals, so this bit of information truly intrigued her. Plus, Juvia had always loved dogs, and she had finally found someone who shared her viewpoint.

"Yeah, surprising, isn't it?" Gray chuckled, "I would get one if I had a bigger house, but then I figured moving would be too much work."

Juvia laughed and made the mistake of looking over at Natsu and Lucy. She immediately turned tomato red, "Eh?"

"What?" Gray asked, following her line of sight and blushing as well, "Well those two sure work fast." The blunette could only nod in agreement as she stared at the kissing couple with fascination. However, her thoughts were disrupted by the appearance of their waiter.

"Hello, I'm Hibiki Lates. I will be your server tonight. What can I get for you to start off with, besides my number?" he said, winking at Juvia and flashing a dazzling grin.

"Just a glass of water, please," she replied, feigning ignorance of the poor attempt at flirting. Gray's jaw clenched, as he glared daggers at the man before him. A new and unpleasant sensation gnawed at his stomach, and he thought irritably to himself, _Will this nightmare never end?_

* * *

**Ok! That's it for this chapter, folks! I'm personally not too pleased with how I wrote this chapter, but I'll leave it for you to decide. Just drop me your thoughts in a review. Any thoughts, comments, constructive criticism, etc. are all appreciated. Until next time!**


	5. Return to Chaos

**Hey hey hey! Can it be? An actual on-time chapter update! I feel pretty accomplished. So, I won't bore you with a long speech for an A/N this time. Thanks for your support of this story! Please enjoy this slightly longer-than-usual chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I own nothing!**

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**Return to Chaos**

"Gray! Hey, Gray, wake up!"

The dark-haired man groaned in exhaustion as he snuggled deeper into his blankets, trying to tune out the person trying to rouse him. However, the persistent pestering continued, and he cracked an eye open to see long blue hair waving in front of his face. He jolted up in surprise and scrambled as far away from the intruder as he could, wrapping his blanket securely around his torso.

"Wendy? What are you doing in my room?" Gray yelled, glancing at his adoptive sister in alarm as the adrenaline coursing through his body began to wear off.

The teenage girl crossed her arms and leaned forward emphatically, exclaiming urgently, "You're going to be late for work! Hurry up. I already made you breakfast."

The anesthesiologist glanced at his clock and paled. He jumped out of bed hurriedly, abandoning all modesty as he flipped around in his drawers for a shirt and some pants. Wendy squeaked and averted her eyes as she saw her brother in nothing but some boxers. "I-I'll wait outside," she piped up and made a mad dash to the kitchen, almost tripping over her cat on the way out.

Gray grunted noncommittally as he frantically threw on some suitable work clothes. Glancing at the clock again, he cursed and picked up his pace.

He finished getting ready in record time and power walked to the kitchen, where Wendy was waiting with a plate piled high with breakfast items. Wolfing down the meal, Gray thanked his sister and grabbed his keys before spotting the backpack on Wendy's shoulder. "Do you need me to drive you to school?" he asked, resigning himself to the fact that he will probably be late.

Wendy waved him off and ushered him to the door, "No, no. I only have an afternoon exam today. I can ask Romeo…" She trailed off as she recalled a semi-important detail.

"Romeo's still in the hospital," Gray sighed, rolling his eyes, "Come on. You're coming with me."

"I will just walk. I have time, unlike you!" Wendy protested as Gray tugged her along with him.

Gray unlocked his car and gently pushed his sister into the passenger seat. "You think I'm going to let my teenage sister walk to school alone? Please, Ur would have my head if she were ever to learn that I let you do that." He closed the door and walked around to the driver's side. Gray started the car and pulled out, checking the time. _All right, we're good,_ he thought as he took off along the road.

About five minutes into the ride, Wendy pressed her face to the window and said, "Wait, Gray. This isn't the way to school. You should have turned left at that last intersection.

The anesthesiologist just smirked, "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention. We're not going to school."

Wendy whirled around in her seat, staring wide-eyed at her brother, "What? I have an exam later! There's no way I can miss school!"

Gray barked out a laugh as he explained, "Well, since I can't afford to be late today, I'll bring you to work, and you can drive yourself to school in the afternoon before your exam. Just don't forget to pick me up afterward, deal?"

The girl let out a sigh of relief once she registered her brother's plan, "Deal."

The two drove in silence for a couple of minutes before Gray pulled into the Fairy Tail parking lot. Grabbing Wendy's stuff, he took a look at his watch and cursed. "Wendy, we're going to have to make a run for it," he said, slinging the backpack over his shoulder. Gray motioned for Wendy to follow him and took off at a sprint toward the hospital entrance.

They swept through the halls toward the OR, alarming the patients and staff alike as they whisked by. They got to the OR in one piece, and Gray clocked into his shift. He looked at the time and laughed aloud. The clock read 6:59; he had made it with a minute to spare. Pushing open the doors, the anesthesiologist led his sister over to the doctors' lounge, where he spotted Lucy laughing with Natsu over a cup of coffee. "A lot of work is getting done around here, I see," Gray said, setting down Wendy's backpack on the table.

Natsu looked up in irritation, "Running late, I see."

"Actually, I'm right on time, Flame Brain," Gray rolled his eyes, "Anyway, I have a favor to ask you."

"And what makes you think I'll do it?" The pink-haired man scoffed, taking a large gulp of his piping hot coffee without batting an eye.

Gray stepped aside to reveal his sister and said, "Because the favor's not technically for my sake."

Lucy saw the blue-haired teen and squealed in delight, "Wendy! It's been such a long time since I last saw you! Wow, you've grown so much. You're so pretty!" She pulled the girl into a hug, still gushing, "Oh, do you still remember me? I think Gray introduced us once back when we were in high school."

"Y-Yes, you're Lucy, right?" Wendy said shyly, blushing from the compliments and attention.

"She still remembers!" the blonde exclaimed happily, practically jumping for joy, "Gray, what were you asking Natsu to do for Wendy? I'll do it if that idiot doesn't."

"Hey!" Natsu objected, "I'm not an idiot!"

"Yes you are," Gray muttered, continuing before the surgeon could respond, "I need one of you to take her to Romeo's room in the ICU. She can keep him some company, and he can help her study for her exams."

Natsu sighed in resignation and stood up, grabbing Wendy's backpack off the table and beckoning for her to go with him. "I'll buy you some lunch later, Wendy!" Gray called after them as they walked out of the lounge.

"Ok, thanks Gray!" Wendy called back as she disappeared down the hall with Natsu.

Gray could hear Natsu's voice drift down the hall, "So, kid. How have you been? I haven't seen you in like, what, twelve years?" Out of the corner of his eye, Gray saw Lucy smiling slightly to herself as she looked at the door.

"He's not bad with kids, I guess," the blonde said, blushing once she realized she had said that out loud.

Gray grunted and rushed away to the locker rooms, getting an unpleasant flashback to his dinner two nights before when he and Juvia had suffered through two hours of listening to her and Natsu flirt. As he passed the front desk, he noticed Juvia standing in front of it, leaning over a clipboard. As he walked by her, he said a quick, "Hey Juvia," and disappeared into the locker room before he heard her response.

He quickly changed into his scrubs and rejoined Juvia at the desk. "What are you looking at?" he asked, leaning against the counter next to the blue-haired woman.

"Today's schedule," she sighed, pushing the clipboard closer to Gray.

He quickly scanned it and balked, "Are you kidding me? An arm fracture and a wrist fracture, a detached retina, and a coronary bypass*?"

"Yup," Juvia groaned, rubbing her temples, "We're all going to be busy today."

"I'm never going to be able to go home," Gray slouched against the counter and grabbed the attendance sheet. He groaned once he realized that less than half of the anesthesia team was there that day.

"You two, quit whining! If you start early, you'll finish early. Gray, start setting up, they're doing the arm fracture first," Gray looked up to see Erza glaring him down, her hands on her hips.

The anesthesiologist scoffed, "Yeah, that's coming from you, Erza. You don't have any cases today."

Erza rolled up the sleeve of her lab coat threateningly, advancing slowly toward Gray. The dark-haired man felt an ominous shiver run down his spine, and he shot up, running toward the surgery rooms before he was pummeled to a pulp.

The redhead lowered her arm and smiled at Juvia, saying calmly, "I'd recommend visiting the coronary bypass patient to get a picture of his condition."

Juvia nodded wearily and said, "Y-Yes ma'am," before slipping away from the intimidating neurosurgeon. Taking a look at the attendance sheet once more, Juvia sighed in relief as she spotted her attending physician's name. Deciding to talk to him first, she headed to the lounge, hoping that she would not have to go on a wild goose chase to find him like she normally did.

Juvia walked into the room to find half the OR staff camped out by the TV. Stopping at the edge of the sea of people, she craned her neck to see what was showing on the monitor. "The police department reports that many of the passengers are in critical condition…" the news reporter was saying amidst a cacophony of sirens and yelling. The groaning of some sort of metal structure could be heard in the background.

"What's going on?" Juvia asked the person beside her, "What happened?"

Lisanna glanced over at Juvia worriedly, "A cargo truck hit a school bus on the highway. There were no casualties, but it doesn't seem like anybody escaped unharmed."

Juvia bit her lip in concern as the report ended with, "Because of the large amount of injuries, the children will be divided up and sent to either Fairy Tail Children's Hospital or Fiore Medical Center. Back to you, Jason."

Despite the report saying the patients would be rushed to two different hospitals, Juvia knew that Fairy Tail would get the majority of the severe cases since it was well-known as both a pediatric hospital and a trauma center. Fiore would probably get the other portion of severe cases as well as the lighter injuries.

"Oh, Laxus is gonna have it rough today," Juvia heard Natsu cackle gleefully from across the room. There was a muffled thump, and he grunted in pain, "Ow, what did you do that for?"

Lucy had apparently hit him as she yelled exasperatedly, "You idiot! Do you know where those patients end up after they've gone through the ED? Why don't you say that _we're _going to have a rough day?"

Juvia smiled at the couple's interaction, but returned to seriousness as she registered Lucy's words. Scanning the room, she identified a few other members of the orthopedic and anesthesia teams, hoping they were up to the task since they would be flooded with the most patients. As she took a headcount of the anesthesiologists, Juvia noticed that Gray was not with them. Remembering that he had rushed off to prep the medications for the arm fracture patient, she quickly headed over to the rooms to notify him of the recent developments.

She found the man in Room 5, rummaging through one of his drug drawers. His head shot up as the door opened, and he waved amiably once he realized it was just Juvia, "Hey, what's up?"

"You are not doing the arm fracture case today," Juvia sighed, crossing her arms, "Actually, we aren't doing any of the scheduled cases today."

Gray looked at her strangely, "And why is that?"

"Because there was a school bus accident, and it's not pretty."

The anesthesiologist stopped his sorting in concern and slammed the drawer shut in mock annoyance, "Are you serious? Of all the times, it has to happen the day I come back to work."

"Wow, look how worried you are," Juvia rolled her eyes in mild amusement and grabbed Gray's arm, dragging him back to the lounge where the staff was undoubtedly coming up with a game plan to tackle the situation. They returned to find the staff already getting to work as the nurses rushed out to set up the rooms. Juvia and Gray halted in the middle of the hall in shock after nearly being trampled by the mob.

Somebody suddenly crashed into Juvia, knocking her both out of her dumbfounded daze and off of her feet. Before she even knew what had happened, the blunette found herself flat on her back, staring up at Gray's concerned face. Gray pulled her up and glared at the offender, "Hey idiot, watch where you're going!"

"Well I wouldn't have bumped into her if you two amateurs weren't taking up the whole hall," was the snarky reply. Juvia rubbed the rapidly-forming bump on her head and glanced up at the man who had run her over. He sensed Juvia's gaze and flicked a piece of blond hair arrogantly, scoffing, "What are you looking at?"

Gray snarled, advancing on the blond, looking like he was ready to punch him out, "Amateurs? Look here, you piece of dung. I don't know who you think you are, but––!" The anesthesiologist suddenly halted in his tracks, feeling a hand on his shoulder holding him back. Turning his head, he noticed it was Juvia who had stopped him. Gray was about to asked what her big idea was, when he noticed the dark look in her eye. Paling, he quickly shut up and backed down, knowing that Juvia was quite the force to be reckoned with when she got angry.

The blunette pushed past Gray, muttering to him as she went by, "Thank you, Gray. But I can fight my own battles." She got right in the blonde's face and said sweetly, "Oh, I'm sorry about that. Are you hurt?" Gray's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he observed the exchange, wondering what on earth the woman had up her sleeve. The blond man rolled his eyes but remained silent. Juvia's eyes narrowed in irritation, "What's your name?"

"Sting," The blond replied coldly, "Sting Eucliffe."

"Nice to meet you, Sting," Juvia smiled brightly, catching the man off guard. He almost fell over as she extended a hand toward him. Juvia smiled even wider as he hesitantly shook it. Suddenly, the cardiologist yanked Sting toward her so his ear was right beside her mouth and whispered, "I won't hold it against you for being a jerk, but if you dare insult me or Gray again, you will wish you had never come to this hospital. Got it? Take this as your one and only warning."

Juvia shoved Sting backward, watching in satisfaction as he staggered, spluttering incoherently. Before he could gather his thoughts, however, a black-haired man marched up to him angrily, "There you are, Sting! What were you doing?" The newcomer looked between Juvia and Gray and paled, "It's our second day as residents*, and you're already bothering the higher-ups?"

Sting tried to protest, but a swift punch to the gut from his friend silenced him again. "I'm very sorry, Dr. Lockser, Dr. Fullbuster. We'll be going now." The two residents stole away into the lounge, leaving Gray and Juvia alone in the now-deserted hall.

"What did you say to him?" Gray asked after a moment of confused silence, snorting as he recalled Sting's face once Juvia released him.

Juvia smirked mischievously, "An empty threat really goes a long way."

Gray let out a bark of laughter and grinned at the woman, "I'll take your word for it. So who was that other kid?"

"That's Rogue. I gave him some directions when he got lost yesterday. Actually," Juvia snapped her fingers excitedly, "if I remember correctly, he said you're his attending."

Gray raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Me? Well, stranger things have happened. At least I didn't get that little blond punk."

"No, Rogue also told me that a certain Sting Eucliffe was assigned to Natsu," the cardiologist giggled.

"I almost feel sorry for that Flame Brain," Gray said jokingly, opening the lounge door for Juvia and going in after her. Neither of them could have anticipated what they would walk into. To tell the truth, it was neither the organized chaos nor the pure tranquility commonly associated with medical professionals of their caliber and what Gray and Juvia were expecting. Instead, they found Natsu waging war against Laxus Dreyar, director of the Emergency Department, with the rest of the medical teams loudly arguing in the background.

"You think you can just go and deny all those patients treatment?" Natsu growled through the phone at Laxus, clenching his fist furiously, "These are innocent children we're talking about!"

A muffled reply issued from the phone, but it didn't take a genius to decipher the irritation in the tone. Natsu clenched his jaw and pressed a button on the phone's keypad. Immediately, the lounge was filled with the hectic sounds of the ED from the other line. "Would you like to repeat that for me, Laxus?" Natsu scowled, gesturing for the people in the room to shut up. A hush immediately fell over the observers as they strained to hear Laxus' reply.

There was a static-warped sigh on the other end as Laxus said slowly as if he were talking to a clueless child, emphasizing each syllable, "The hospital doesn't have the capacity to give fifteen critically-injured patients emergency surgery. Now we're in this mess because the old man didn't listen to me and expand the hospital."

"We are a trauma center, Laxus!" Plastic surgeon* Cana Alberona yelled from her spot on a couch, "We are equipped and trained to deal with this kind of stuff."

"Besides, what is this excuse about not having enough room?" Natsu snarled, "You know perfectly well the ER is more than big enough to deal with this."

Laxus grunted, "Am I on speaker right now?"

"Doesn't matter!" Natsu screeched, "But what does matter is the fact you won't accept the critically hurt patients! Just wait until Gramps hears about this."

"Oh, so you're gonna tattle on me to the old man, huh?" Laxus cried mockingly, "I'm so scared!"

"Why are you doing this, Laxus?" Erza demanded from beside Natsu.

There was a scoff on the other line, "Because we need to teach those idiot paramedics a lesson. They think for every major accident, they need to send all the bad cases to Fairy Tail and overwork us, by which I mean me. I'm going to show them that I have the power to turn away those patients, and they can't take advantage of our facilities! Plus, if we can't save one of those trauma patients, the brat's parents will sue this hospital and take millions out of my inherited fortune from the old man."

"Laxus, you idiot!" Erza roared slamming a fist against the wall, "You are willing to sacrifice the lives of these children for your own laziness and greed? You are a shame to Fairy Tail. If you think Mr. Makarov is going to leave you even a penny after this, you are sorely mistaken."

"I'm trying to protect Fairy Tail!" the man yelled, losing his temper at last. There was a crash as some poor item in his office was flung against the wall.

"You're trying to protect your fortune!" Erza retorted.

Laxus growled angrily, "Whatever you call it, trauma patients come through the ER first, and as the ED director, I'm the one who decides what happens to them. You have no influence over this department. End of story!" The man ended the call, leaving the OR doctors in a seething silence.

Suddenly, there was a pop from the hospital loudspeakers, and the hospital director and owner's voice boomed out, "Laxus Dreyar! Laxus Dreyar report to the OR! No excuses!"

Everybody's heads shot up, and Natsu shouted, "Gramps!"

A minute later, the door to the lounge opened to reveal a diminutive old man who slammed a hand down onto a table furiously, a vein pulsing in his forehead, "That Laxus! How dare he do this? It is high time I taught him a lesson."

"Gramps! How did you hear that conversation?" Gray asked once he saw their boss.

"Easy. I hired a professional wire tapper and her brat of a fiancé," he said as the door opened again to reveal a woman with short blue hair and a thoroughly pierced man.

Juvia's eyes lit up as she spotted her childhood friend. Running forward, she threw her arms around the man, crying excitedly, "Gajeel! It's great to see you!"

Gajeel grunted uncomfortably and carefully extracted himself from the woman's grasp. "Juvia," he nodded curtly, looking away. Juvia just smiled wider, knowing that he was actually happy to see her, despite his actions.

"You haven't changed a bit," she giggled. The man just grunted.

"Levy!" Lucy exclaimed happily, jumping up and embracing the woman.

Levy giggled and hugged her old friend back, unlike her fiancé, before looking over at the other doctors, "Well, I'm not really a professional wire tapper so much as I am an electrical engineer."

"A fantastic one, if I do say so myself," Makarov said proudly, making Levy blush at the compliment, "I called her in to fix our internet modem. I asked her to wiretap just for fun, but it seems like we intruded on a less-than-pleasant conversation."

Gajeel scowled down at Makarov, "You know, old man, I could have you and the Shrimp arrested for that." He pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his leather jacket and swung it around his finger threateningly.

"Who are you calling Shrimp, Giant?" Levy puffed out her cheeks angrily.

The old man rolled his eyes at Gajeel, "I do what I want, boy. It's my hospital."

Gajeel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, glaring around at the doctors broodingly. Makarov grinned victoriously before frowning once more, "I need to go meet my rebellious grandson now. That brat will finally get what has been coming for him." Just as he was about to leave, the door was thrown open, and a large blond man walked in.

"You called me, old man?" he asked in a bored voice, "What do you want?"

"Laxus," Makarov growled as he caught sight of his grandson, "How could you even think about rejecting all those poor children? That is against hospital policy and completely inhumane. I should have your head!"

"Just watch me," Laxus scoffed as he whirled around, his lab coat billowing out behind him.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Makarov shouted back, "You're fired!"

Laxus paused at the door, turning his head to glare at his grandfather menacingly, "So that's how you're going to play it." His eyes danced with rage as he suddenly charged toward Fairy Tail's director, fists poised to take him out.

In a flash, Gajeel was in front Makarov, shielding him from harm. He blocked the blow and quickly retaliated with a punch of his own, pushing Laxus back. Gajeel took advantage of the pause to reach toward his waist, searching for a taser that wasn't there. Realizing he didn't have the weapon on him, the black-haired law enforcement officer cursed and bared his fists, ready for whatever Laxus could throw at him.

Laxus came back with a left hook, quickly followed by a kick. Gajeel didn't see the kick coming and got knocked backward. The group of doctors gathered around the back of the room snapped out of their dazes and rushed forward to help. Natsu anf Gray ganged up on Laxus next, engaging him in combat and giving Lucy the chance to run out of the room and call for security.

Knowing he had limited time to make a splash, Laxus redoubled his efforts and tossed a chair at Natsu, who barely got out of the way in time. The chair went hurtling toward Levy, giving her no time to react. Sensing the danger, Gajeel jumped in front of her, taking the blow for her. Laxus hurled another chair at Gray, which also missed its target and flew toward Cana. Juvia noticed and alerted Cana to the danger, but the plastic surgeon reacted a split-second too late. The brunette got hit square in the chest by the projectile and fell over, winded. Juvia ran over to help with Gray on her tail.

By this point, a group of security guards had made its way into the lounge and managed to successfully restrain Laxus. As they escorted the man out, he yelled furiously, "I'm going to get you for this! Don't think this is the last you'll see of me!"

Makarov had a pained expression as he replied, "Just get out, Laxus. I cut all ties with you here and now. If you dare come back, there will be even worse consequences."

As Laxus was being dragged away, the phone rang, and Makarov rushed to get it, obviously holding back tears, "Fairy Tail OR, Makarov speaking."

There was some panicked shouting on the other line, and the hospital director pulled the device away from his ear, "Freed, calm down! Laxus has been fired. You take over the ED for now, but you have to calm down. You know what to do. I will send some OR doctors over immediately."

The two talked for a minute before Makarov hung up the call and looked around at the doctors, "The patients are on the way. Freed says the paramedics reported multiple bone fractures, intracranial hemorrhages*, internal bleedings, and back injuries. He called for half the orthopedic and anesthesia teams to go down. The other half, remain here. Erza, Jellal, and Juvia, you go down there too. They'll probably need you. Now get to it!"

The people Makarov called for took off for the ER immediately. Juvia looked into the midst of the group and located her attending jogging next to Erza. He noticed her looking at him and excused himself from his conversation with the redhead. Making his way over to Juvia, he asked, "Hello Juvia."

"Hello, Dr. Fernandes," Juvia said politely, "Did you need anything?"

"I was about to ask you that," the blue-haired man responded, "And like I always tell you, just call me Jellal."

"Yes sir," Juvia said, "I was looking for you earlier, but it's not really important right now."

"If you have a question, just ask me now," Jellal said, "You never know when the answer might be important."

"No, I was just going to check in with you about doing a case that was scheduled for today."

Jellal nodded, "Say, Juvia, is this your first time being called to the ER?"

"Yes sir," Juvia admitted, "They don't usually send residents to treat emergency cases. I'm a fellow now, so I guess I should have expected the call. They sent me a trauma case the other day when nobody else from the team was there."

"Right, the boy with the gunshot wound?" Juvia's attending recalled, a tint of pride coloring his voice, "You handled that very well. I'm impressed."

"Thank you, Dr. Fer… Jellal," Juvia beamed at the praise.

"Juvia, do you know why they sent us cardiologists there for the car crash?" the man asked suddenly.

Juvia was ready for his notoriously random tests as she responded confidently, "Some of the most common injuries sustained from vehicle accidents are in the heart. They're mostly medical emergencies and need to be treated immediately."

"Good," Jellal nodded approvingly; however, looking at Juvia, he noticed she began to appear somewhat unsure and nervous, "You know, Makarov usually sends the best doctors to deal with emergencies. By sending you, he acknowledges your skills. It's quite an honor. So don't worry about messing up because you won't. Besides, I'll be there to 'attend' your work. You'll be fine."

Juvia shot him a tight-lipped grin but remained silent. The group gathered around the elevators, waiting for it to take them downstairs. Jellal wandered back to Erza, leaving Juvia alone at the edge of the crowd. A person squeezed through the wall of doctors a moment later to stand beside Juvia. Looking over, she noticed it was Gray. He was wearing his usual nonchalant frown, but Juvia felt that he was actually slightly nervous.

"Are you ok?" Juvia asked softly, putting a hand gingerly on his arm, "Those kids will be fine, you know." Gray looked down at his feet, but didn't move his arm away. Juvia felt a jittery feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she realized now was not the time to gush about it. Gently squeezing Gray's arm, she said, "You can tell me what's bothering you."

The anesthesiologist glanced around at the other doctors and mumbled discreetly, "I can't let what happened to Ur happen to those kids."

Juvia cocked her head to the side, not quite following him, "What do you mean?"

Gray sighed and elaborated, "Medical emergencies are unpredictable. The logical plan of action could end up causing a multitude of unforeseen consequences, like in Ur's case…" He stared down at his feet stoically, getting lost in his own worries and fears.

"Hey," Juvia nudged him gently with her elbow, snapping him out of his depressed state, "It will be fine. There's no point in worrying about it. These kids are in a very different situation than that of your mother. Just stay strong and think of the present, all right?"

Gray glanced up at her, and his features softened, "Y-Yeah. Thanks, Juvia."

Juvia simply shot him the brightest smile she could muster through her own nervousness and followed the rest of the OR team into the newly-arrived elevator. Gray trailed behind her silently, hoping beyond hope that what she said was true. The heavy metal doors slid shut, crushing any thoughts of turning back. As they slowly moved downward, the stifling restlessness seemed to intensify as the doctors prepared themselves to tackle the Emergency Room's challenges.

* * *

**There it is! Sorry not too much medical stuff happened in here since it was mostly character introduction. You can definitely expect a lot of emergency room craziness in the next chapter. If you've got any suggestions or comments, please don't hesitate to leave me a review! Thanks for reading!**

**Terms:**

**Coronary bypass - A procedure to restore blood flow to the heart in which new routes are constructed around a blockage/blockages in the coronary arteries. **

**Resident - A person who has graduated medical school and is beginning training in a specific medical field.**

**Plastic surgeon - Ok, I know that you know what a plastic surgeon is. I just want to clarify why Cana is one in a children's hospital. She specializes in reconstructive surgery rather than cosmetic, which means if there is extreme disfiguration from an accident or whatnot, she can help restore a bit of the normal structure. Hope this helped for those of you who may have been confused.**

**Intracranial hemorrhage - Bleeding in the brain due to a ruptured ruptured artery. Normally caused by serious head trauma.**


	6. Continuation of Chaos

**I know, I know. You all are definitely like, "Hey, where have you been for like half a year? Why didn't you update? You stink!" And I am truly sorry for leaving you hanging on sort of a cliffy for that long. It's just, I have been sooo busy recently, I can barely keep up with life. I know that's not too good of an excuse, but it's true. Hopefully y'all can empathize with little old me. **

**Anyway, apologies aside, please read, enjoy and review!**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and all its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

**Continuation of Chaos**

As the elevator doors dinged open, a roar of commotion drifted from the lobby to assault the OR team's ears. Doctors and nurses were shouting orders amidst the mayhem of blaring ambulance sirens and clattering gurneys.

The OR doctors sprinted toward the ruckus, only for Natsu to almost get run over by a crash cart*. The nurse behind the contraption swerved dangerously around him and cursed at the orthopedic surgeon. Natsu blanched and held up his hands in surrender as the woman began to spit metaphorical flames at him.

Throwing the pink-haired man one last dirty look, the bespectacled brunette continued on her way with the cart, not sparing the group a backward glance. "What the hell is her problem?" Natsu scowled as he watched her retreating figure. Before he could rant about her rudeness, a frazzled-looking man turned the corner. As soon as his eyes landed on the other doctors, a weight seemed to lift off his shoulders, and he looked about ready to cry. "Thank goodness! You're here. Hurry up! All the trauma bays are going to be filled!"

Jellal stepped forward and held out a hand, "Are those the patient charts, Freed?"

The man looked down at the clipboard in his hand as though he were just registering that he was holding them. With a mute nod, he slapped it unceremoniously into the cardiologist's hands and took off in the direction of the ill-mannered nurse. Jellal looked at the excessive amount of papers clipped on the board and sighed. Motioning for the rest of the team to follow him, he cleared a path toward an empty conference room behind the welcome desk.

As they jostled their way through the crowded lobby, a paramedic whisked by, pushing a gurney. Jellal glanced at the child on the bed and winced, noticing the blood and dirt caking the little boy's skin immediately. As soon as the doctors packed themselves into the room, he closed the door forcefully and brandished the charts in the air to catch the doctors' attention. Setting the clipboard on the table, he began to flip through the patients and their conditions, trying to plan the best course of action.

After a moment, he groaned, "This will be tough, but we have to try our best. Here's the situation: we have fifteen patients, the majority of which are in differing levels of critical condition. They all have fractures, but several have other injuries layered on top of that."

The listening doctors broke out in worried whispers, but were silenced by Jellal, "Hey, calm down. We need to focus. Natsu and Lucy, there is a girl in Bay 1 with multiple fractures and a punctured eye. You two get on that now." Lucy grabbed the chart that Jellal held out to them and rushed out, with Natsu right on her tail. Wishing them luck, the blue-haired man continued, "In Bay 2, there is a girl with minor bone fractures and elevated blood pressure. Gray, examine her and fill out her report so we can get her into surgery later. Juvia, go with him to keep an eye out on the patient in case she presents with something we didn't expect."

Gray nodded and took the chart, exiting the room with Juvia as Jellal continued assigning rooms. The chaos in the lobby had died down a bit as the two made their way to Trauma Bay 2. "Is this girl really just suffering from minor broken bones and high blood pressure?" Juvia asked as she watched Gray pour over the report.

The black-haired man grunted affirmatively, "Yeah, must be one of the minor cases they brought in."

"Then why did Jellal assign her to us now? We're already short on hands; why is he wasting two pairs on this?" Juvia wondered aloud, slightly confused by her boss's decision.

"It's Jellal. He's got a reason for everything," Gray shrugged nonchalantly.

"I guess," Juvia sighed. They looked up as they approached the bay. Gray brushed aside the curtain over the entrance and held it open for Juvia. She thanked him as she went in, a small smile playing on her lips. As the doctors walked in, the only people they found in there were the patient and a nurse taking the girl's vitals.

The monitor beeped, and the nurse systematically turned the screen so the doctors could see. "Jellal was right," Juvia mused, "Everything's normal except for a slightly elevated BP."

Turning her attention to the patient, she was shocked to find the girl fully conscious and seemingly in minimal pain. The seven-year-old blinked owlishly at the newcomers, asking shyly, "Who are you? Where are my mama and papa?"

"Your mama and papa are on the way, sweetie," Juvia smiled reassuringly, walking over to take a closer look at the girl, "I'm Dr. Lockser. What's your name?"

"I'm Asuka Connell," she said proudly, looking up at Juvia's face, "You're pretty."

Juvia giggled, "Thank you. You are too. Now, would you mind telling me what's hurting you right now?"

The girl put on an exaggerated thinking face and said thoughtfully, "This arm and this leg hurt, but I don't think it's too bad," Asuka pointed to her left arm and right leg respectively, then she pointed to her knees, "And my knees hurt. My neck, back, and chest sort of hurt too."

"Wow, you are very brave to be dealing with this pain so well," Juvia smiled and turned to the nurse, "Did you give her painkillers already?"

The nurse confirmed having done so, and Juvia nodded, seeing the reason why the girl was so calm. The adrenaline and pain medications combined would probably numb just about anything.

Gray frowned from his spot behind Juvia, "Her chart says she has a fractured left arm and right leg, but what's causing the other pain?"

"Did they take any x-rays of her in the ambulance?" Juvia asked in confusion, glancing over at the paperwork.

Gray flipped through the report and nodded, "Yeah, but only of her arm and legs. It's how they confirmed the broken bones."

"Who are you?" Asuka piped up, staring intently at Gray, "Are you and Dr. Lockser like mama and papa?"

The doctors flushed in embarrassment, and Gray answered gently, "I'm Dr. Fullbuster, and no. Dr. Lockser and I are just friends."

Juvia felt a bit of a pang in her heart as she heard what Gray considered her as, but she shook it off, noting to herself that it was not the time or place to be getting upset over something like that. Directing her question toward the nurse, Juvia said, "Could you please fetch me the portable x-ray machine?"

"I'll be right back with it," the nurse responded, ducking out of the bay.

Several minutes later, she returned with the machine and an ER doctor in tow. The emergency doctor scowled unpleasantly at Gray and Juvia as he laid a possessive hand on the x-ray, "You OR losers can't just waltz in here and demand to use my babies like you own the place."

"Your… babies?" Gray asked, "What's up with that, Bickslow?"

"These things are my pride and joy! They're the only thing Laxus actually took my advice on and bought, and they're probably the most useful machines in this ER," he said, puffing out his chest in pride, "That's why you people need _my _permission to use them. Or at least have someone who is qualified to order something like that!"

"I wouldn't say they're the _most _useful thing here," the Gray muttered under his breath, his mind automatically generating a list of much more useful quipment.

Bickslow heard him and snapped, "What would you know, little boy?"

Gray clenched his teeth, but before the argument could escalate, Juvia stepped between them, "Now is not the time to argue! And sir, I am a cardiologist. My job is to diagnose a problem just as much as it is to treat it, so if you would please let me use your x-ray, it would make all our jobs go much more smoothly."

Bickslow opened and closed his mouth several times, but no sound came out. Finally, he grunted and left the bay with a final warning, "If you damage my baby, you'll have to answer to me!"

"Understood," Juvia replied emotionlessly. Turning back to Asuka, she plastered a smile onto her face again and said, "Now, Asuka. We need to take an x-ray of your chest to make sure that everything's okay with you. You just need to relax and stay really, really still for me, all right?"

Asuka nodded, leaning back against her pillows as Juvia turned the machine on. Within a few minutes, the x-ray was complete, and Juvia examined the pictures. Her eyes roved the image, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she blinked and stared at a certain spot on the film, her cheeks draining of color instantly.

She turned away from Asuka, so the girl wouldn't see the look of dread on her face. Praising Asuka for being very brave, Juvia muttered an excuse about returning the x-ray machine before walking out into the hall. Gray's gaze followed her in concern, and he followed a moment later, telling the nurse to keep an eye on the patient.

The anesthesiologist found Juvia in the now-empty conference room, staring blankly at the x-ray images. "Where's the machine?" he asked, trying to direct her attention away from the immediate source of stress.

"I gave it back to Bickslow," Juvia responded flatly, still scrutinizing the picture unseeingly.

Gray walked up to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, Juvia shoved the film in his face and backed away, arms crossed. He glanced at the meaningless white on the black background and sighed, "You know, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for."

The blue-haired woman scowled and pointed to a specific location on the image. "I still have no clue what's wrong," Gray said exasperatedly, "Just tell me."

"Asuka has a traumatic aortic rupture*!" Juvia cried angrily, "Juv-I need to tell Jellal." She tried to push past Gray, but he held her back, bracing his hands against her shoulders until she stopped struggling and looked at him.

"Juvia, stop," he said, locking eyes with the cardiologist, "Once you find him and update him, it will be too late. It's up to you right now."

Juvia laughed humorlessly, "Is that supposed to make Juvia feel better?"

Gray shrugged nonchalantly, "So what? You can do emergency surgery. You did it before with Romeo."

"Juvia knows, Gray, but you don't understand. This is different. This time, I am really out of my depth. Do you know the risk of Asuka's situation? The fact she's even alive right now is a miracle. She'll need emergency surgery, and Juvia not skilled enough to do it. It will add even more risk to the equation. Plus, Juvia couldn't bear to watch that little girl die like that," she dragged a hand despairingly over her face and began to pace frantically.

Realizing that he wasn't getting through to her, Gray changed tactics. Before Juvia take another step, he pulled her into a tight hug, feeling her tense up then melt into it. "You will fix her up. You always do."

She took a couple of deep breaths and pulled back, throwing the man a shaky smile, "Thanks, I-I needed that. You know, this is the last time you'll be doing this… this comforting me thing."

Gray ran a hand through his raven locks and replied, "Good. But I'm always here if there ever is a next time."

"That's nice to know," Juvia whispered and started trudging back to the trauma bay, "We should hurry."

* * *

"Hand me the sutures please," Juvia told the scrub tech*, who carried out the order immediately.

Gray felt his gaze drift away from his many monitors to glance over at the cardiologist. He realized that watching Juvia work fascinated him more than it should, but something about her made it difficult for him to look away. Not for the first time did Gray think how perfectly Juvia fit her occupation. It may have been the way she carried herself or the glint of determination in her eyes; whatever it was, this aspect of her personality truly shined in doctor mode Juvia. When she was focused on her task, nothing could faze her; all previous worries and fears were out the window to be replaced with the face of a warrior.

Hearing the sound of the heart-lung machine, Gray forced his attention back to his own job. Scanning the patient's vital signs carefully, he made sure everything was okay before focusing back on Juvia. She was carefully stitching something together, handling the task gently like she would a fragile piece of pottery, but firmly enough that her moves were efficient and precise.

After a few tense hours in the operating room, Juvia finally put in the last stitch and stepped away victoriously, declaring with relief, "We're done. Let's get her to the ICU."

She and Gray took off after the patient toward the ICU. At the thought of their destination, Gray's eyes widened as he checked his watch, noting with horror that it was already one o'clock. "Great, Wendy's been starving up there for hours!" he groaned.

"I'm sure she'll understand," Juvia said, "I can go check on her if you want."

"No, no. You need to make your report. Tell them everything went well on my end, but I had to go handle another emergency."

"Got it."

"Thanks, I owe you one," Gray said, sprinting ahead to the elevator.

Making a beeline toward the populated area of the ICU, Gray found the room he was looking for, and without knocking on the door in his haste, barged into the room before stopping dead in his tracks. There was Wendy, sitting in the hospital bed with a binder in her lap and a piece of miscellaneous fried food in her hand. But what really caught his attention and jacked up his blood pressure was Romeo, who had an arm _draped over Wendy's shoulders_, _looking intently at her_, chomping down on some fried chicken _from the same plate as her_, and _laughing _as they talked about something or another.

As soon as the teens heard the door slam open and registered who it was that had intruded, they jumped apart, with Romeo quickly retracting his arm and Wendy gracelessly tumbling off the bed, her notes following suit with a thud. "Gray!" his sister gasped, turning progressively redder and guiltier under his disapproving glare, "This, uh, this isn't… we weren't…"

"Save it, Wendy," Gray growled, feeling the over-protectiveness surge up in his chest. Changing his focus to the offending boy, Gray snarled, "What were you doing violating my sister?"

"V-Violating?" he stammered nervously, his voice cracking sadly.

"Yes, violating! What else do you call feeling someone up, checking her out, and shamelessly flirting with her?"

"He was doing none of those things!" Wendy piped up defensively, stepping in front of Romeo as if to shield him from her brother's wrath, "How could you say such awful things to Romeo?"

Gray released a tense sigh and said more levelly, "Wendy, you don't see it, but I do. You're blinded by your little crush or whatever, but by the time you do see it, he will already be in a position to hurt you."

At this, Romeo visibly swelled in anger, pushing himself out of bed with trembling arms and yelling, "I would never! I would never hurt her! I think you are the blind one in this situation!"

"Romeo! Stop, get back in bed. You shouldn't strain yourself!" Wendy fretted, gently pushing the older teen toward the mattress.

Romeo wouldn't budge and stared defiantly at Gray, brow furrowed. "I would never hurt her," he said stoically, "She is my _best friend_. And as I said before, at the moment we are nothing more or less than that."

Gray seemed torn between letting the argument go and yelling some more. However, before he could open his mouth to reply, the door was thrown open and the white-haired ICU doctor, Mira, stormed in, with Juvia frantically trying to calm her down.

"What have you been doing to my patient?" Mira demanded, a demonic glint sparked in her eye as she stared Gray down.

The anesthesiologist paled, but stood his ground, "I'm protecting my sister."

Juvia sighed and walked over to him, "Let it go, Gray. They're not doing anything."

Gray's eyes widened as he noticed he would get no support, "But…"

"Come on," Juvia demanded firmly, grabbing his arm and pointing toward the door, "Calm yourself down. You are just seeing what you want to see at this point. Besides, we still have more patients to treat."

"But Juvia…" Gray tried to argue. Juvia shot him a look. He paled, surprised that the woman had it in her to be so scary, "Okay, going now."

He walked over to the door, but before he walked out, he turned one last dark look on Romeo and said threateningly, "Don't you dare lay a finger on her, or you will have to answer to me."

Mira and Juvia both glared at Gray and hissed, "Out!"

Gray never ran away so quickly in his life.

As soon as the door closed behind the man, Mira sighed and said sternly to Romeo, "Get back in bed, young man."

Romeo obeyed instantly. Juvia looked at the bandages over his chest, "How have you been, Romeo? Any problems?"

"I've been good," he smiled, "You stitched me up really well."

Juvia laughed, "That's good to hear. Well, I've got to go back to work. It was nice seeing you guys again." She shot Wendy a smile and a wink before heading out after Gray.

* * *

Juvia caught up to Gray as he waited by the elevators. "I would hate to have you as my brother," she giggled, taking note of the man's frazzled countenance, "Wendy is seventeen years old. She can make her own choices, and if it involves being with Romeo, you should respect that."

"Respect it, sure. But do I have to like it?" Gray grumbled, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest.

Juvia shook her head exasperatedly, a small smile gracing her lips, "I guess not. But you will definitely have to get used to it. They will make the cutest couple!" She giggled uncontrollably as her mind constructed one of her notorious fantasies.

The dark-haired man stared at her apprehensively, waving a hand in front of her face. As Juvia snapped back to reality with a sheepish grin, he snorted, "What makes you so certain they'll actually get together?"

"Oh, they'll get together all right," the woman proclaimed with a disturbing glint in her eye, "Trust me." Gray was saved the obligation of responding as the elevator finally arrived, and they shuffled in awkwardly.

* * *

"Free at last!" Juvia sighed, whisking into the doctor's lounge and slumping into the nearest chair.

"Tell me about it," Lucy laughed tiredly, walking over holding two cups of coffee. Daintily sitting down next to her friend, the blonde laid down one of the Styrofoam containers before taking a rather unladylike gulp of her own steaming beverage.

"Thank you, Lucy," Juvia said, pulling her cup closer and taking a sip, "How did it go for you today?"

"Good, I guess," the blonde said thoughtfully, "Those kids were all pretty beaten up."

"Yeah," Juvia responded, "I guess we had it okay. It's Gray and Natsu who got the brunt of the work."

"You mean _I_ had it okay. Don't be modest," Lucy giggled slightly, "How many aortic ruptures did you have to fix, now?"

"Just one, thankfully," Juvia rolled her eyes, "The other ones just had bruising or slight tachycardia*."

"Ah well," Lucy shrugged, looking up as the lounge door opened to reveal a smug Cana and an exasperated Gray. Natsu snickered from behind the two and waltzed into the room, planting a sloppy kiss on Lucy's cheek. The blonde turned multiple shades of red as she playfully shoved her boyfriend away.

"Hello," Juvia smiled, "You stole Gray from me at the desk, and now you're torturing him, Cana?"

The brunette smirked mischievously, glancing between Gray and Juvia slyly, "Oh, no, I wouldn't dare do such a thing. I was just discussing the layout for this year's Fantasia Parade."

Both Lucy and Juvia straightened up a little at the mention of the parade. "That is this coming Saturday, right?" Lucy asked excitedly.

"I cannot wait to see it!" Juvia exclaimed happily, "I missed it last year."

Cana grabbed a soda from the refrigerator with a look of disgust, "Why is it hospital policy to prohibit alcohol? I really need a few barrels of beer after today." She stretched herself across the couch like a cat, opened the bottle, and took a swig before continuing the previous train of conversation, "You're kidding me, right Juvia? Did you seriously forget that you and Lucy are going to be part of the parade this year?"

Juvia almost choked on her coffee, "E-Excuse me?"

Lucy thumped her on the back, whispering, "Remember we get to participate now that we're fellows?"

"Yeah!" Cana cheered, "It'll be great! You two are now officially part of the Fairy Tail staff!"

"All right! I can't wait!" Lucy crowed, returning Natsu's offered high-five.

"You guys are such kids," Gray muttered from his spot next to Juvia, "It's just a parade the hospital puts on every year to get funds."

"Say what you like. I'm having the time of my life planning it this year!" Cana cackled, grinning wider at Gray's horrified expression, "Makarov put me on the committee."

"They're letting _you_ plan the parade?" he scoffed, "What are you gonna do? Make a beer-themed float?"

"Watch it," Cana wagged a finger at him, "I have better taste than that. It will be wine themed, thank you." Gray rolled his eyes, but the brunette continued, "Anyway, I've been planning who will be doing what on which float, and I have the most adorable idea for you and Juvia. How do you like 'Snow Queen and her King?'" She winked at Juvia as she saw the blue-haired woman's furious blush.

Gray simply shrugged nonchalantly, seemingly oblivious to Juvia's struggling, "Could be better, but I won't complain too much. Just don't put me with Flame-for-Brains, and I'm good."

Natsu looked up at his nickname and snorted, "Right back at you, man."

Cana and Lucy both glared at Gray, frustrated by his tactlessness. Juvia completely missed the exchange as she attempted to get her face back to normal body temperature.

* * *

**There it is! Sorry again for this late update! Hope you enjoyed it though. Please leave a review if you've got any comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. Thanks y'all.**

**Next up: Fantasia Parade! Get pumped guys, cuz it's one of my favorite clips EVER!**

**Also, someone told me a while back to run through the characters and their jobs again, which I will do now!:**

**Juvia - cardiologist**

**Gray - anesthesiologist**

**Lucy - ophthalmologist **

**Natsu - orthopedic surgeon**

**Erza - neurosurgeon**

**Jellal - cardiologist**

**Cana - plastic surgeon**

**Sting - orthopedic resident**

**Rogue - anesthesia resident**

**Levy - electrical engineer**

**Gajeel - police officer**

***Tell me if I missed someone.**

**Glossary:**

**Crash cart - A cart full of medications and equipment for emergency resuscitations. **

**Traumatic aortic rupture - When the aorta (the biggest artery in the body) is torn or ruptured, usually as a result of trauma.**

**Scrub tech - Usually a nurse or surgical technician who helps in the surgery**


	7. Fragility and Fantasia

**Hello again, everyone! Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I've been saving this chapter for today as my gift to all of you. Also, please read all of the A/N at the end of this chapter because I need your opinions on something, but we'll get to that later. For now, please enjoy this chapter and thank you all for your support of this story!**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is property of Hiro Mashima. I own nothing.**

* * *

**Fragility and Fantasia**

"_Hello, you have reached the voicemail of Wendy Marvell. I'm very sorry I could not answer your call. Please leave a message, and I will return the call as soon as possible…"_ Gray jabbed the End Call icon irately before he could suffer hearing the infernal beep at the end of the spiel for the fifth time. Slamming his phone onto the counter, he slouched over the front desk despairingly as Juvia tentatively patted his shoulder.

"Why won't she pick up the phone?" Gray groaned, directing a half-hearted glare at the cellular device beside his hand as though blaming it for all of life's problems.

Juvia looked partially amused and majorly unsympathetic as she giggled, "Well, after what happened with Romeo, do you really blame her?"

Gray snorted stubbornly and turned his head away from the blunette, "She's still my ride! She took my car, remember?"

"Yes, yes," Juvia agreed lightly before standing up, "If you're that desperate, I'm sure you wouldn't mind me driving you home."

The anesthesiologist's head shot up hopefully, but he stood up more calmly, "Really? No, I couldn't ask that of you…"

Juvia waved off his objections and grabbed his arm, leading him out of the hospital and toward the garage. As the two exited the harsh, sterile environment of the hospital, they slowly began relaxing and interacting more casually. Weaving through the rows of parked cars, the pair's casual chatter echoed uproariously through the slanting levels.

"How far away is your car?" Gray grumbled, glancing over at Juvia exasperatedly as they continued their seemingly endless trek, "You must burn through a ton of calories by just walking to and from the building every day."

The woman's lip curled in amusement, but she just shrugged and lightly swatted her companion's arm. "Don't judge," she chided.

Gray raised his hands in mock surrender as he grinned at her, "Ok, ok, I'm sorry."

Juvia snorted and scanned the nearest row of cars. She smiled as her blue eyes fell upon her hatchback, "We're here. See, it wasn't too bad."

"Depends on your definition of 'too bad,'" Gray joked, walking around to the passenger side of the car.

Juvia scowled at him and got into the driver's seat, "I can always just leave you here, you know." The mere thought of leaving the man alone made her want to cling to him and never let go, but she pushed down the urge. She had an image to maintain.

Gray rolled his eyes, clearly not believing a word the woman said. Juvia pulled out of the garage and was about to head in the direction of their houses when Gray piped up suddenly, "Wait, Juvia."

The cardiologist pressed back down on the brakes before she could turn onto the road and looked over at Gray curiously, "What is it?"

Gray seemed to be battling with himself as he averted his eyes and tapped his fingers on his thigh. Juvia glanced over at him in concern, but otherwise waited patiently for him to answer. Finally, he forced a response through his teeth , "Do you… Do you mind taking me to Fiore Med?"

Juvia immediately caught on to what he was implying and silently nodded her head, maneuvering the car over to the left turn lane. She inspected Gray out of the corner of her eye as they waited for the light to change, but she refrained from commenting on his condition, noting the futility of doing so. They drove on in a resounding silence, each lost in their own thoughts. A few minutes later, Juvia pulled into the visitor lot of Fiore Med, feeling like she had just driven for an eternity and a half. Wanting to break the horrible awkwardness between them somehow, she cleared her throat slightly and muttered, "When would you like me to pick you up?"

Gray stopped with his hand on the door and stared back at her, "What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't want to intrude," Juvia stated, staring bravely into his severe gaze.

After a moment, Gray's eyes softened infinitesimally, and he scoffed lightly, "Like hell I'll make you drive all the way home then come back. You're coming with me. Besides, I think you deserve to at least see how Ur's doing, considering you basically saved her life."

Juvia's cheeks flushed a little, but she said somewhat resentfully, "Not fast enough, it seems."

"Stop, Juvia," Gray demanded gently, "You saved her right on time. There's no use in regretting anything now."

"I-I…" Juvia stammered, glancing up at the man shyly. Watching his firm gaze meet her own, she closed her mouth and smiled slightly, "Right!"

"Now let's go see Ur, shall we?" Gray bumped the blunette's shoulder lightly and led the way toward the building briskly. To any outsider, the man's stride would seem very purposeful and stiff, but to Juvia or any of the hospital staff accustomed to seeing Gray in the past week, his steps revealed so much more. There was a spring in it that had been absent even before the accident, and those who acknowledged it could only stare in wonder at the miracle before their very eyes.

* * *

Doranbolt was all over Juvia the instant she set foot in the hospital. Well, it was more like he politely said hello and gave her a quick handshake before leaving a moment later. But from Gray's perspective, he was all over her. Gray tried his best to ignore the man's "advances" (God forbid Juvia mistake any rise out of him for jealousy), yet that gnawing feeling of protectiveness and something unidentifiable refused to go away. When Doranbolt's hand accidentally brushed against Juvia's arm as he explained Ur's condition, Gray's last nerve snapped, and he steered the blunette away with a curt, "I can take it from here, Doranbolt." He maneuvered Juvia away from the other doctor, leaving him standing awkwardly in the lobby.

"Gray, what's wrong?" Juvia asked in concern once they stopped outside of Ur's room, noting how strange Gray was acting, "If you don't want me to go in, I'm fine staying out here while you visit your mom."

Gray's eyes widened and he quickly blurted out, "No! That's not what I meant. I was just…" He couldn't quite figure out how to phrase his next sentence without sounding weird, so he clamped his mouth shut and forced a tight smile. "I'm fine," he reassured Juvia, noting the look of concern on her face, "Really, I am. Now let's go."

He plastered on a cheerful expression and pushed open the door to his mother's room. The fake smile slid off the moment he stepped inside. As he held the door open for Juvia, he noted sadly that Ur's condition had not changed at all since he last saw her the day before. She was just as pale, just as unresponsive. Gray's heart clenched every time he saw his mother, the strongest person in the world, looking so fragile.

Juvia too examined Ur solemnly, taking note of the older woman's palor and slightly sunken cheeks. All Juvia could do was pray that Ur would pull out of this coma soon. She couldn't bear to watch Gray witness his mother's excruciating deterioration. It was already hard on her; Juvia couldn't imagine what it must be like on Gray. The two doctors stood side-by-side, frozen in their own little worlds for a moment, completely lost in thought.

After a minute, Gray snapped back to the present and cleared his throat tiredly, "I-I'm sorry, Juvia, I just got a little…"

Juvia mustered up a reassuring smile despite the atmosphere and laid her hand gently on the man's shoulder, "You didn't do anything wrong. I understand."

Gray lifted his own hand and rested it over Juvia's before he removed her hand from his shoulder to hold it more naturally. Under normal circumstances, Juvia would probably have fainted, but this was not the time and definitely not the place to do so. Instead, she simply squeezed Gray's hand comfortingly and guided him over to Ur's bedside. Gray, noticing that there was only one chair as they made their way over, directed Juvia to sit in it. She looked up at him a little stubbornly and jerked her head toward the chair, silently ordering Gray to take it instead. Gray flailed his hand a little and shook his head before he stopped and looked at Juvia. She stared right back amusedly. They held each other's gaze for a couple of seconds before they started laughing.

"Look at us, arguing over a chair," Juvia giggled, kicking the said piece of furniture lightly.

"That was interesting," Gray chuckled as he glanced around the room. He spotted another chair and mentally slapped himself, "And look, there was another chair right there the whole time." He walked over and pulled it up next to the other chair and motioned for Juvia to take a seat. This time, she did so with only a slight roll of her eyes at the man's gentlemanly behavior. Gray sat down in the other chair, before the sombre mood fell over them once more.

Suddenly, Gray sat forward and clasped his mother's hand with his free hand as he opened his mouth hesitantly, looking at Juvia as though asking for permission. At her nod, he cleared his throat and began speaking, "H-hey, Mom. It's Gray. Sorry I came late today. I went back to work, and it was insane..."

He paused for a moment, glancing over at Juvia, who had tears welling up in the corners of her eyes as she witnessed the touching moment, "I, uh, brought a friend with me today. You remember Juvia Lockser, right? Well, she has been a huge help for both of us. She's the one who… saved your life," Gray's voice cracked a little, but he sucked in a shaky breath and continued, "She's also been invaluable to me as a friend. Juvia looked after Wendy when I was too out of it to take care of her. She was also the one to knock some sense into me and to force me to get my act together. I really couldn't thank her enough." He wiped a few tears from his eyes and looked over at Juvia. She had rivulets of tears running down her cheeks as she pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thank you, but you really didn't have to say all of that," she sniffed into his shirt, "You make me sound like such a hero when I'm really not."

Gray let out a watery laugh and released the blunette's hand so he could return the hug, "I don't think I make you sound like a big enough hero."

Juvia snorted half-heartedly and released the man from her embrace. Sitting back up in her seat, she inspected Ur, seeing no physical change whatsoever. But somehow, Juvia felt like the woman had heard them. The atmosphere in the room seemed a bit lighter, and Ur almost looked a little happier, if that were possible.

Gray and Juvia sat in silence for a while longer before the nurse came in to put in a new bag of IV fluids. As the nurse came in, the pair stood up to let her have easier access to the IV pole. Glancing at his watch, Gray sighed and said, "We better get going. I don't want to hold you up any longer."

"No, no, it's fine. I don't have anything I need to do anyway. If you want to stay longer, that's fine by me," Juvia said quickly, waving away Gray's suggestion.

"I would like to, but I actually have to go. It's not just for your sake," he chuckled, tugging Juvia toward the door, "Thanks, Nurse. See you later, Mom."

"Bye, have a nice day…" Juvia said shyly to both Ur and the nurse as she followed Gray out.

As the two walked back to the parking lot, Juvia noticed that Gray had yet to let go of her hand. She blushed slightly and asked, "Um, Gray? How long are you going to hold my hand?"

Gray snickered like she had just cracked the funniest inside joke and replied jokingly, "Forever!"

The response jogged something in Juvia's memory. She stopped on her tracks, blushing a bright red as a flashback from their high school days popped into her mind. She and Gray had gotten into a stupid competition with Lyon and this other girl Chelia at the local fair. After she and Gray managed to scrape the final win, Juvia had clung onto Gray's hand and refused to let go, resulting in the exchange they were currently having. Just thinking about her Gray-obsessed teenaged self made Juvia want to run and hide, but she shook the embarrassment off and smiled, going along with Gray. "So scary!" she quoted high school Gray, glancing at the man out of the corner of her eyes. He was grinning too and gripped Juvia's hand a little tighter.

Juvia smiled brightly as she watched Gray laughing. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him so happy since Ur's hospitalization. It made her feel special in a way to know she played a role in his rare moment of happiness.

* * *

A few days later, the night of the Fantasia festival arrived. Juvia could hardly contain her excitement as she gawked at the grand display of decorations and vendor stands as she and Gray explored before the parade. The whole time, Juvia had hardly loosened her vice grip on the man's arm, dragging him to this food stand or that scarf vendor. Gray raised no objection, despite his obvious reluctance to being dragged along at the enthusiastic woman's every whim.

"I've never seen so many people in one place! There must be at least twice as many people here than there were two years ago," Juvia gushed, eyes skimming the sea of people surrounding them.

Gray grunted noncommittally, "I wouldn't say _twice _as many, but yeah. The festival has gained fame over the last two years, what with it being a charity for the hospital and all that."

"I think it's a wonderful thing for the hospital to do," Juvia said, "It's such a creative way to get funds."

Gray nodded and smiled at the cardiologist's awe. "Yeah, it's pretty cool," he agreed before looking down at his outfit, "I just wish the staff didn't have to wear these stupid stickers." He pointed to the label on his shirt's breast pocket annoyedly. It wasn't obtrusive, but it made him a little self conscious, as everybody's eyes were automatically drawn to the dark Fairy Tail logo stamped to his chest.

Juvia giggled, knowing why he disliked it so much, "If we show them to the vendors, we get discounts, so it's worth it. Besides, they never said it has to be in plain sight." She pointed to the slit in her dress, or rather the blue symbol posted on her leg. Gray glanced down before realizing how inappropriate that action would seem to bystanders and blushed, immediately looking away. "Plus, Cana let us choose what color we wanted for them too," Juvia continued, oblivious to Gray's embarrassment. "I should have known you would pick black," she joked, pointing to his shirt.

Gray scowled and said defensively, "It's navy!"

"Big difference," someone snorted from behind him. Gray whirled around to see Cana holding a bottle of booze. "You two, stop dawdling! We'll be on in less than an hour!" she scolded as she got closer.

"Less than an hour!" Juvia shrieked, whipping out her phone to check the time. To her horror, she noticed that Cana was right, "Gray, let's go!"

"What's the rush? Slow down, Juvia!" he exclaimed as he was dragged forward roughly.

"No, speed up, Juvia!" Cana cackled gleefully, plopping down onto a wooden crate to take a swig from her bottle. Gray threw the infuriating woman a scathing glare as he sprinted to keep up with the blue-haired cardiologist.

The pair made it to the warehouse with all the floats and costumes in record time and began scanning the hundreds of clothing racks for their outfits. "What did Cana say we were again?" Gray yelled, looking over at Juvia who was searching in the other side of the room.

She poked her head up from behind a lizard suit and shouted back, "We're supposed to be the king and queen of an ice castle! I think our costumes are around here somewhere!"

"How are you so sure?"

Juvia lifted a little placard and replied, "Because these outfits have labels on them."

Gray walked over to Juvia and stared uncertainly at the lizard suit, "Who was unfortunate enough to get stuck in this thing?"

Juvia looked down at the card she was holding and burst out laughing, "M-Mirajane!"

Gray scoffed, patted the reddish-purple monstrosity, and said, "Somehow, I can see it. But where's our stuff?"

Juvia shrugged and looked at the labels again, "I think they're in alphabetical order."

"We'll go with that," Gray nodded, and the two took off in search of their own costumes.

A minute later, both were staring in disbelief at what they had to wear. "What is this?" the anesthesiologist exclaimed, holding up his blue, ornately embroidered suit-and-cape combo. He stared over at Juvia's stuff and paled even more, "What the heck is _that_?"

Juvia stared dumbfoundedly at the dress, not quite absorbing her whole outfit. It definitely looked fit for a queen with its fancy decorations and layers and layers of fabric. Holding up a strange accessory that rather resembled a dog cone, she asked Gray confusedly, "What is this for?"

"Like I would know!" he said, "Shouldn't you know how to put it on?"

"Not at all," Juvia said, staring at her ensemble bleakly.

Just as she was about to panic, the door to the storage room opened, and Mira walked in. She saw the pair in the corner and beamed, "Oh, good. You're here! Do you need any help getting that on? We're pretty tight on time."

Juvia nodded numbly, and Mira ushered her to the changing room, leaving Gray alone in the large room. He looked back at his own costume and felt a little better, seeing that he knew how to put on every part of it. Making his way to the men's room, he wondered what sort of torture Mira was putting Juvia through at the moment.

* * *

"Ow, Mira!" Juvia cried in pain as the older woman roughly yanked a brush through a knot in the cardiologist's hair.

"Oh hush, it's like ripping off a bandaid. Better get it over quickly than do it slowly and painfully," Mira smiled, not flinching in the slightest as she practically tore out another bunch of Juvia's hair. The blunette yelped and shot to her feet. Well, she rocked to her feet the best she could with her costume's large, ballooning skirt restricting her motion.

"You're a demon!" Juvia hissed, rubbing her sore scalp pointedly, "This is called ripping off hair, not a bandaid!"

"Thank you!" Mira smiled, obviously not paying attention to Juvia's protests as she grabbed the now-heated hair straightener and waved it around menacingly, "Now come back here. There is one last thing I need to do!" The blue-haired woman took one look at the weapon in Mira's hand and shivered. Picking up her ankle-killer heels and white gloves, Juvia hightailed it out of the room with a fearful "No, thank you!"

Mira blinked owlishly at the trail of dust where Juvia stood a moment before and glanced over at Lisanna, who was curling Lucy's hair, "What did I do?"

As Juvia ran down the hall back to the warehouse, the door to the men's room suddenly opened, and Gray stepped out plucking at the collar of his stiff suit. "Watch out!" Juvia shrieked, trying and failing to stop herself before she crashed into him.

Gray looked up, and his eyes widened in surprise as Juvia knocked the breath out of him, quite literally. She collided with his chest, bowling both of them down to the ground. Groaning, she clambered off of him and looked down in concern. Gray was flat on his back, winded from the fall as he gasped for air. "Oh my, Gray are you okay?" Juvia asked frantically, watching him struggle to breathe, "I'm sorry. I didn't break anything, did I?"

Gray held up a finger, still wheezing for breath. As he slowly got some air into his lungs, he choked out, "I'm… fine. Just a little… winded."

"I am so sorry. I didn't expect you to pop out like that!" Juvia squeaked, wringing her hands and flitting around the fallen man nervously. She realized her nervous behavior was not helping, so she extended a hand to Gray to pull him up instead. He accepted it gratefully and scrambled to his feet.

"I'm all right. You're fine," he gasped, bending over and placing his hands on his knees. After a moment, he looked up at Juvia, relatively recovered, and absorbed her outfit. He had very mixed feelings about it the moment he laid eyes on the dress. Now that Juvia was actually wearing it, the internal debate waged even stronger. There was no denying that she looked stunning, but it didn't really look like it fit her style. However, if he looked at it from another angle, he could see how it fit her perfectly. Gray got a headache just thinking about it, so he just settled with mumbling, "You look great."

Juvia giggled as she scanned his fancy cape, suit, and tights. To her, Gray looked amazing in anything, but saying the getup suited him would really be stretching it. It was so far-removed from his usual outfits that she had to pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream. Plucking at her skirt, Juvia laughed, "Not bad yourself."

Gray snorted and pulled his cape around so he could look at it, "Who am I kidding. I look ridiculous."

"It's not very… you," Juvia said, "But it's not bad."

"Ha, thanks," Gray smiled a bit before looking at her restricting bodice and satellite dish collar, "I can't say I envy you."

"I'm trying my best to deal," Juvia giggled, "It's not really flattering, is it?"

Gray chuckled, "I wouldn't say that. You look quite good, Queen Juvia." He lowered himself into an exaggerated bow and winked up at the blunette. Juvia blushed a little and laughed at the man's oddly dopey behavior.

"You're really getting a kick out of this, aren't you," Juvia said, pulling on her elbow-length gloves, "We should go."

Gray nodded, then looked at the heels dangling from Juvia's hand, "What about your shoes?"

Juvia looked at the death-trap heels, contemplating how to put them on considering she couldn't bend past a thirty degree angle. As she peered downward toward her feet, she realized she couldn't even see them from under the skirts. Juvia smirked at Gray and put a finger to her lips in a shushing motion before going over to the nearest clothing rack and dumping the shoes under the longest cloak she could find. Gray laughed as he saw her do that, "Nice, very rebellious."

Juvia smiled brightly, "I know!"

The dark-haired man smirked and stuck out an arm, "Well, Milady. Let's go, shall we?" Juvia giggled and took his arm. She had a feeling that that night would be a magical one. As she glanced at the man before her, she wondered if her life so far was truly real, or if she had simply hallucinated it. That definitely sounded like something she would do.

* * *

**I wasn't able to put in the Fantasia parade scene in cuz the chapter was getting a bit long. Also, I haven't finished writing the whole thing yet, and I really wanted to give y'all something today. Anyway, rest assured. I will be updating again soon, probably around New Years, with the next installment, so stay tuned!**

**Important:**

** Here is my question for you guys. I have ideas for 2 FT fanfics, and I need your opinions on them. Considering my updating for my existing fics is already terribly off-schedule, I probably won't be starting the new stories anytime soon. But it would be nice to have ****your opinions on my ideas, if you wouldn't mind giving them. Also, please tell me which one do you think you are more interested in reading. Here are the summaries:**

**Fic 1: It'll be another Gruvia AU and probably pretty short, say 10-ish chapters.**

_After a serious incident robs him of his sight, Gray Fullbuster never imagined he would see anything again besides infinite darkness. He quickly discovers that life has become little more than a series of adjustments to his new disability. Just as he begins losing sight of his future, a girl and her violin walk into his life, turning his world on its axis and restoring a new meaning to his life._

**Fic 2: This will be a full-length story in the Fairy Tail universe (Nalu this time), but it'll take place 400 years in the past. This doesn't follow the whole canon "Natsu is a time traveller" thing though (sorry, spoilers)****. I also don't have a super good summary for this yet, but it'll go something like this:**

_The Dragon Civil War started and ended with humans. As the dragons working for peace with the humans begins losing ground, they turn to Dragon Slayers to help balance the tide. Follow the path of a young Dragon Slayer named Natsu as he works to master his powers and bring an end to the war. However, with the rise of a dangerous third party, the futures of both dragons and humans hang in the balance._

**Any input is appreciated! Thank you so much and, again, have a happy holiday!**


	8. Of Parades and Dates

**Happy New Years (Eve) everybody! Here's my promised chapter. It's so weird. This will be my last update in the year of 2015. I guess I'll see you in 2016! Anyway, I'd like to thank all of you who commented on my story ideas last chapter. So far, I've had tremendous support for the Gruvia fic, so it will be the next story I post (this will be far in the future, maybe over the summer)! For those of you wanting me to do the Nalu fic, I will definitely write it, but I'll be uploading it after I finish with Clinical Attraction cuz I don't trust myself to juggle more than 3 stories at one time. **

* * *

**Of Parades and Dates**

As the pair reached the floats, Lucy and Natsu along with most of the paraders were already there waiting. As soon as she saw Juvia, Lucy was all over her, gushing about how pretty the blunette's dress was. Juvia smiled back at the other woman and thanked her, complimenting her on her cheerleader outfit as well. Natsu was smirking at Gray, "Dang, Ice Princess. I guess you've graduated to Ice King now. Congrats, wear those tights with pride, my friend!"

Gray growled and moved to punch him in the face, but a sword cut between the two men before they could start fighting. Natsu and Gray paled as they traced the sword back to its owner. "Erza!" they squeaked, jumping back in fear. The redhead smiled innocently and flourished her weapon around.

"Pretty cool, huh?" she said, "I guess Cana remembered I used to do sword fighting."

Lucy started fawning over Erza's swords, and the two walked away, leaving Gray, Juvia, and Natsu alone. "Natsu, where's your costume?" Juvia asked, noticing the man wearing a normal black vest, white cargo pants, and his scarf, "Did Cana not pair you up with Lucy?"

"With Luce? I wish," Natsu laughed, "Nah, I'm firebreathing."

Juvia's eyes widened in surprise, "Woah, you know how to do that?"

"Yeah, my dad taught me when I was a kid," he said with a big smile, "I haven't done it in years, so let's hope I still remember how. Well, I gotta run. Good luck you guys!" He waved back at them as he made his way toward the back of the train of platforms.

The parade began soon after, and as the floats slowly filed down Magnolia's main street, Juvia looked out at the crowds of cheering people excitedly. There really were a lot of people, and they were all cheering for her and her co-workers. Glancing at the people in front of them, Juvia's smile widened even more as she saw Lucy waving her flag and performing her routine. Levy, who was an honorary Fairy Tail member because she helped design some of the floats, accompanied the blonde along with a green-haired woman Juvia had never really talked to.

Juvia's eyes skipped over Elfman, who was dressed in a monster suit, to the large pink lotus flower where she knew Mira was hiding. She giggled internally as she saw a few guys with "Mira" banners gazing at the flower excitedly, expecting the white-haired beauty to emerge in all her glory. Juvia could hardly contain her laugh when she saw the comical looks on their faces when they saw the real Mira emerge in her large lizard costume.

"What?" Gray asked from beside Juvia as he noticed her slightly shaking frame, "Are you okay?"

Juvia had to hold her breath to keep from laughing aloud and said out of the corner of her mouth, "Mira."

Gray looked over to the lizard suit as well and hid his own chuckle, "Those poor guys."

A moment later, they spotted Cana at the front, waving at them to start their show. Juvia caught Gray's gaze, and they nodded simultaneously. Juvia lifted an arm, and two streams of water burst up from the two sides of the float. A curtain of water also sprayed up from behind them. She was shocked at how promptly the mechanism responded to her movements and made a mental note to ask Levy about how it worked later. Next to her, Gray also waved his arm showily, which caused the large screen of water behind them to light up an icy blue and fall away to reveal the large glass "Fairy Tail" sculpture that had risen up behind it. As the spectators cheered wildly, Gray shot Juvia a wide grin, to which she responded with her brightest smile possible. Gray threw her a wink and turned back to the crowd, leaving Juvia to try to control her blushing.

All in all, the parade looked and sounded magical as the crowd roared in response to each beautifully compiled segment. From the float behind theirs, Juvia could hear Erza's blades slicing through the air as she went through some of her stances and motions. After Erza had finished, there was a _whoosh_ of fire from Natsu, and the cheering crowd got even louder.

As the parade reached the end of the street, everyone on the floats began huddling closer, preparing for the big finale. Just as they hoped, a shock of bright blonde hair slowly migrated through the crowd toward a side alley. Juvia smiled sadly as she saw Laxus pause a moment as the edge of the sea of people. After the whole fiasco almost a week earlier, Laxus had finally admitted his wrong and made up with his grandfather. However, Makarov was unable to repeal his decision to fire the man, but that didn't stop the old man from planning him a heartfelt goodbye.

Cana saw Laxus' hesitation and waved to Makarov, who was at the head of the floats. As a unit, all the paraders lifted their right hands, palms facing themselves with index fingers and thumbs extended. Juvia stared over at Laxus, hoping he would turn around. He seemed to sense all the staff's eyes on him, and he whirled around wide-eyed, seeing the meaningful goodbye his co-workers were giving him. Juvia then glanced over at Makarov, who was holding back tears and staring intently at his grandson. The blunette smiled sadly to herself as she witnessed the scene before her and stretched her hand up a little higher. The motion caught Gray's attention and he smiled over at Juvia and reached up a bit further too.

As Laxus, with tears streaming down his face, turned around again and left, Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs from the parade's caboose, "There's way more to go! I'm all fired up!"

Juvia grinned widely as everyone lowered their hands and descended down to the somewhat confused yet very enthusiastic observers below. As soon as her foot touched the ground, she felt herself being picked up and twirled around by somebody. She was so startled that she blindly kicked out at whoever had intruded on her personal space. There was a low grunt as her foot connected with the mystery person's chest. Juvia felt her feet touch solid ground almost immediately and looked up to see Lyon throwing her a pained smile, "Nice to see you again, Juvia dear."

The blunette didn't know what to do or say other than stare at the man. She remembered very clearly the pain he had put Gray through with his hostile comments in the supermarket and wasn't sure if she was ready to forgive him for that yet. Speaking of Gray, the man was angrily marching over once he saw his brother accosting Juvia. Before anybody could do or say anything, he cocked his fist and socked Lyon square in the eye. The older man yelped and grabbed his face in pain. As he straightened, he narrowed his eyes furiously and roared at his younger brother, "What the hell was that for?"

"You should know, jackass!" Gray growled, pulling back his hand to punch Lyon again.

"What?" Lyon demanded, "The grocery store or Juvia?"

"Both!" Gray snarled, throwing another punch. At this point, a crowd was gathering around the brawling brothers, and the rest of the staff was forced to do crowd control as they fought it out.

Lyon noticed how angry Gray was and raised his hands in surrender, "Ok, ok. Geez, calm down. Just hear me out."

"I don't wanna hear it," Gray said, crossing his arms.

"Ah, too bad. Here I was thinking about apologizing for my behavior the other day, but with that kind of welcome…"

Gray glared down at his arrogant brother and hissed, "Apologize and get out of my sight."

Lyon took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry. I was an ass for blaming you for Ur's condition when I knew it wasn't your fault. There. Happy? I guess I'll see you around, Gray. It's always a pleasure, my lovely Juvia." He pushed his way through the throngs of people without a second glance, leaving an irritated Gray and a frowning Juvia in his wake.

"Of course he has to end an apology with something to annoy me. So typically Lyon," Gray snorted with a frown. He looked over at Juvia, and his features softened a little as he said, "We should go get changed, Juvia."

The blunette looked down at her outfit and nodded readily, "Yes. I'll be very glad to get out of this torture device."

* * *

After they had changed, the pair found themselves wandering through the main streets, looking for something they really wanted to spend their hard-earned money on. As they walked, Juvia was excitedly pointing out interesting trinkets in the vendor stands or asking Gray what he would like for Christmas. At the latter, Gray stared at her incredulously and said, "You do know that there is still half a year until Christmas, right?" Juvia simply smiled and responded with a "It's good to be prepared!" to which Gray rolled his eyes, a small grin gracing his features.

As they passed Erza's favorite bakery, a head of dark blue hair caught Gray's eye. He looked back in surprise, only to find Wendy walking into the store with Romeo by her side. Gray immediately felt his blood pressure rise, and he was in half a mind to march in and challenge the teenage boy to a duel. The only thing stopping him from barging into the little shop and giving Romeo a piece of his mind was Juvia. Seeing who had caught Gray's attention and knowing what was about to happen, she quickly grabbed his arm to restrain him. The man turned on her furiously, but a look from the cardiologist quickly cowed him, and he forced himself to calm down. A mischievous grin then stretched itself over Juvia's face, and Gray paled, not liking the Erza-esque glint in her eyes. She stretched up toward Gray's ear to whisper, "Gray, we should observe their little date!"

Gray frowned and whispered back, "You mean spy on them?"

"Sure, if you want to look at it that way," Juvia shrugged.

"No," Gray said adamantly, crossing his arms and glaring broodingly at the woman, "Why would I want to watch my sister go on a date?"

"Because it will be fun?" Juvia said, smacking his arm, "Now come on!"

Gray didn't have the courage to object to Juvia, especially when she was on a mission, so he followed her into the building obediently. As they stepped inside, a bell jangled in the quaint little shop and the manager behind the desk looked up at them with a smile. As Gray approached the counter, he saw that the manager was an exceptionally short and stout man wearing a white suit. However, what made Gray hesitate was the fact that the man was not the same as the one who was there the previous times he came to this bakery.

"Men," the manager said, making finger guns and crossing his hands in front of his chest in a rather ludicrous pose, "I am Ichiya. How may I help you?" He changed his pose and looked up at the two doctors intensely. Gray felt an uncomfortable shiver go down his spine, and he had to wonder why on earth this was Erza's favorite bakery.

"U-um, hello," Gray said blandly, not quite sure how to handle this interesting character. Before he began speaking, he surveyed the other customers to locate Wendy and make sure he wouldn't attract her attention, "I don't mean to pry, but what happened to the other manager? I don't remember ever seeing you here"

"Oh, he quit. Men!" Ichiya sighed, grabbing a pen and twirling it around his finger, "I took his post. I had quit recently from the night club Blue Pegasus. Maybe you've heard of it?" At Gray and Juvia's confused look, he shrugged and continued, "Well anyway, I came here in the pursuit of love! And a change of parfum! Men!"

"Love?" Juvia asked, somewhat bewildered by the man before her, "Parfum?"

"Yes," Ichiya nodded sagely, "I began to tire of the parfum of beer, so I came to smell new fragrances! Also, this is the favorite bakery of my one true love!"

Gray got an odd nagging sensation at the back of his brain as the strange man before them said that, "What, by chance, is the name of your 'love?'"

Ichiya splayed out a hand over his heart and pronounced grandiosely, "Why, it is Erza Scarlet! Men!" Gray almost fell over in shock at that revelation, imagining what the quick-tempered redhead would do if she heard this confession. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly a pretty image. Gray shuddered subconsciously as Ichiya barreled on, "Just last week, she came to visit me, and I was knocked off my feet! But after that, she never came back, and I haven't seen her since. Men…" He looked down dejectedly at his toes, and Gray may or may not have felt a sliver of pity for him. If it was the Erza he knew, Ichiya was not metaphorically knocked off his feet.

"Oh," Gray mumbled awkwardly, "If it makes you feel better, I know Erza, and she is doing fine."

"Meeen!" Ichiya brightened up almost instantly, "That's good to hear! Now, enough about me. What would you two like?" Gray jumped at the chance to change topics and blurted out the first pastry he could think of. Juvia ordered after him, and they went to look for a table. Juvia spotted the perfect spot, concealed from the two teens by a potted plant yet close enough where they could easily hear their conversation. Sitting down, the pair strained their ears to listen in.

"So Wendy," Romeo said, "How did exams go for you?"

"They were okay," Wendy responded, sounding a little unsure, "I'm just glad we're on summer break now. Did you have to make up your exams?"

Romeo laughed, "Thank goodness seniors have exam exemptions, otherwise who knows?"

"Oh yeah, you're a senior. I keep forgetting about that," Wendy mumbled, sounding a little sad, "You'll be off to Magnolia University soon."

"Hey, hey!" Romeo laughed, "Why you so sad about it? I'll still be in town! We can hang out whenever you feel like it, all right?"

Wendy was silent for a moment before she giggled, "Yeah, that sounds nice. I think I'll visit you a lot."

"Good," Romeo said, "I want you to! When I'm a lowly freshman again, and you're a senior, we can go get coffee or something and complain about our lives, yeah?" The two laughed. Their conversation continued on this vein for a while. Occasionally, Romeo would crack a joke, or Wendy would overreact about something, and the two would be bogged down in another fit of laughter.

Back at his and Juvia's table, Gray's eye twitched a little in irritation. He found it quite annoying how flawlessly the two complimented each other. Turning to face Juvia, he struggled a moment for a conversation topic before muttering, "MagU, huh? Not bad."

"What did you expect?" Juvia giggled at the man's grudging respect, "The boy's a carbon copy of Natsu. Of course they would go to the same college. I heard he wants to work at Fairy Tail too once he finishes school, not that I'm surprised."

"Yeah," Gray grumbled, "I'd like him a bit more if he went to the University of Crocus like you and I did, but…"

"You just don't want him to be like Natsu," Juvia accused jokingly.

"Of course I don't," Gray said, crossing his arms in mock snobbery, "The Flame Brain's as dense as they come! I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

"That's a little harsh, Gray," Juvia chuckled, lightly swatting the man's arm.

"Hey! Wendy needs standards!" he laughed, then he sobered up a little and said, "Nah, MagU's a great school. I'm okay with Romeo going there."

"So that means you're okay with Wendy dating him?" Juvia coaxed, wondering if that was all it took to sway Gray to her side.

"Not a chance."

* * *

It turns out the two doctors were terrible spies. They ended up talking with each other for two hours instead of tailing the teens. By the time they figured they might have overstayed their welcome at the bakery, Wendy and Romeo were long gone and the shop was about to close. As they exited the shop, Juvia sighed a little remorsefully, "Aw, I wanted to see what would happen next."

Gray smiled, "I think it was better that we didn't keep following them. Besides, I rather enjoyed just talking to you. We should do that again sometime."

Juvia stopped suddenly, looking up at him in surprise with a faint blush coloring her cheeks, "Y-yeah!" She managed to compose herself and caught back up with Gray. The two walked in comfortable silence again before another realization crashed into Juvia and she skidded to a halt once more, feeling oddly flustered and exclaiming, "Did you just ask me on a d-d-date?"

Gray looked back over at her somewhat uncertainly, feeling those strange butterflies going crazy in the pit of his stomach. He seemed to be debating about whether to brush the situation off and play dumb, but the more he thought of it, the more he realized that he meant exactly what he said. Gray laughed nervously and reached up a hand to scratch the back of his head, "I guess I did. So when are you free?"

"Is this real?" Juvia gasped, not seeming to be listening to a word out of Gray's mouth after the "I did." Her cheeks were a fiery red, and she couldn't bring herself to meet Gray's concerned gaze. The more logical part of herself was internally berated her for acting like a little school-girl with her first crush. However, her body wasn't really responding. "Of course Juvia will go on a date with you!" Juvia shouted and, without warning, launched herself at Gray, pulling him into a tight hug, but just as quickly as that happened, she let go. Her face was even redder as she managed to control herself. Realizing she was probably ruining her chances with her outburst, she cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "I'm sorry, Gray… I don't really know what came over me just then…"

She braced herself for the man's rejection, but a second later, he let out a booming laugh. Juvia's head shot up in surprise as she registered the sound. "There's high school Juvia," he chuckled, "I knew you still had her in you."

"Wha…" Juvia couldn't quite comprehend the situation. One second, she got asked out, the next she thought she had driven her date away, and then he just laughs? If she wasn't in her current state of shock, Juvia would have yelled at Gray for putting her through that emotional rollercoaster.

Gray was still laughing a little as he waved off her next attempt at apology and said, "No, no. It's fine. So when are you free?"

Juvia felt a sudden shyness come over her, and she whispered, "Uh, tomorrow afternoon works for me… I mean, if that's not too early."

"Great, I'm down for tomorrow," Gray smiled, noticing her uncertainty, "I can stop by your house at six. Is that good? We can decide what to do then, since it's getting late now."

Juvia checked the time and noticed Gray was right. The two headed toward their cars. Once they reached the parking lot, they stopped and prepared to say goodbye. Smiling as brightly as she could, Juvia gave Gray a quick peck on the cheek, and joked, "It took you long enough."

Gray's cheeks reddened slightly, and he looked away, faking nonchalance, "Yeah, maybe, but better late than never, right?"

Juvia giggled and nodded happily, "Well, I should go. See you tomorrow, Gray." She began walking away to her car. Gray simply raised a hand in farewell before heading to his own, feeling oddly giddy about their date the next day.

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**Here ya go! A bit on the shorter side, but not by much. Hope you enjoyed! I'll get back with the medically stuff in the next chapter, since I know you all want more of that :). Until then, hope the romance in this chapter was enough to satisfy you. Thanks again guys and have a wonderful transition to 2016!**


	9. It's a Date

**Hi hi friends! I'm back with the long awaited chapter 9! If you remember from last chapter, this will be Gray and Juvia's date! Thank you all so much for your support of this story. Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

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**It's a Date**

When he saw Juvia at her door, Gray's eyes immediately widened, and his breath caught in his throat. He didn't think he had ever seen anybody quite as beautiful as the woman before him. She wasn't wearing anything fancy: just a simple blue halter top dress, but Juvia seemed to radiate happiness as she broke out into a bright smile. He suddenly felt like there was something really different about her that he couldn't quite figure out. It wasn't a bad different, and Gray wasn't sure if he was just imagining it.

"Gray!" She giggled, looking him up and down, "You sure clean up well."

Gray snorted at her cliché line, "Thanks, I guess. You are such a stereotypical romantic."

Juvia shot back, "As if you aren't! Picking the girl up from her house at six o'clock on the dot?"

"Oh?" Gray raised an eyebrow jokingly, "I can always come later. How does three in the morning sound?" Juvia broke down in giggles at Gray's rarely shown goofier side, and Gray found himself unable to resist the woman's contagious laughter. As they regained their composure a moment later, Gray smiled over at Juvia and said, "You look beautiful."

Juvia's cheeks immediately flamed up in a blush. She stammered a few incoherent syllables as she tried to suppress the blood flowing to her face. She managed to sputter out a "th-thank you" and looked away quickly.

Gray frowned in concern, "Are you okay?"

Juvia nodded silently. She took a few deep breaths before laughing, "You really surprised me there. You're not usually so straightforward with your compliments."

Gray couldn't decide whether that was a compliment or not, so he shrugged his shoulders and changed the topic, "So, you decide on what we're gonna do tonight?"

Juvia fiddled with the hem of her dress and chewed her lip uncertainly. "Well…" She said, "I felt bad picking something on my own without your input, so I have no idea."

Gray laughed, "You shouldn't feel bad about that! I was the one who told you to pick."

"I was thinking about making you go with me to a symphony concert! I'm pretty sure you would die before you went to one of those."

Gray thought about what she said for a moment before sighing, "You're right… Like always."

Juvia giggled and puffed out her chest arrogantly, "I know!"

Gray scoffed, "Sometimes I wonder if you really are twenty-seven years old."

"Me too," Juvia chuckled, "I feel like I should be older because No-Fun Gray is getting more boring with each passing day." She smiled to show she really didn't mean it and grabbed Gray's arm, pulling him toward his car. "I won this one," she gloated, ignoring Gray's protests about being "insulted and man-handled."

The two got strapped into their seats before they realized they still had no idea where they were going to go. "Wait, did you have any ideas besides the orchestra concert?" Gray asked, raising an eyebrow.

Juvia blushed apologetically, "No, sorry. Just watching chick flicks, which I'm a hundred percent sure you wouldn't want to do."

"Right again," Gray chuckled. They fell into a comfortable silence as they each thought of something the other might like to do. After a moment, Gray's eyes widened and he broke out into a reminiscent smile, "I have the perfect place, but I know you were supposed to pick, so if you would rather come up with something, I'm down with that too."

Juvia rolled her eyes at his words and laughed, "You think I'm just going to get a magical stroke of genius at this point? Where were you thinking about going?"

She stared at Gray expectantly and he elaborated with a smile, "It's a surprise, but I'm going to need you to put on a swimsuit."

Juvia frowned a little at his strange request, "What are you plotting, Gray?"

"Relax, you're gonna love it," the man responded with a cheesy grin. Seeing that, Juvia couldn't help but worry that much more. However, she decided against arguing and stepped out of the car.

"I'll be out in 15 minutes," she called back.

"Take your time," Gray said, rolling down his windows, "I need to head back to my house for my stuff too." Juvia nodded back at him in acknowledgement and disappeared back into her house.

Thankfully for Gray, he lived right across the street and over a little, so he got home within five minutes. He burst into his condo almost frantically, threw on his swim trunks, and packed his towel plus some other supplies. Wendy, who was sitting in the living room, jumped at seeing her brother barge back into the house. She didn't ask what this was about, but the look in her eye when Gray came out of his room communicated her confusion quite effectively. Having compiled his stuff in record time, Gray turned his attention to his fridge, the very one he and Juvia had restocked just a week earlier. Throwing it open, he scanned its contents desperately, searching for something semi-classy. Much to his dismay, he found nothing of the sort and slammed the appliance shut again with a curse. He could tell Wendy was worrying about him, so he shot her a nervous smile and a "I'm fine! Be back later!" before running out again.

He loaded his stuff in his car and drove back to Juvia's, only to realize it had only been ten minutes and that there was no way she was ready yet. Grumbling, Gray sat back in his seat to wait, only to be interrupted by his growling stomach. His eyes widened as he remembered their dinner dilemma. Mentally cruising their choices for a fine-dining experience, take-out addition, he settled on a pretty good restaurant and called in to order. When the woman on the other end told him it would be "fifteen to twenty minutes," Gray panicked. Realizing there was nothing much he could do at this point, he agreed to the wait, hoping Juvia wouldn't mind a quick detour. _As if this whole date wasn't completely screwed up anyways, _he thought nervously, thinking of all the different bad impressions he'd made already, and it was only 6:20.

Juvia came out with her bag a moment later and asked as soon as she got back in the car, "What is this about?"

Gray hated keeping her in the dark, but he knew that if he wanted his plan to succeed, it would be necessary. He just winked with as much confidence as he could muster and replied, "You'll find out soon. But first, I hope you don't mind a quick detour." Then he added as an afterthought, "Or having Chinese for dinner." At least he could rest assured she wouldn't object to the last one, considering Chinese was her favorite.

Juvia gave him a bewildered look and shook her head, "No, I'm fine with whatever you need to do for this odd little plan of yours."

Gray smiled reassuringly and said, "Like I said. You're gonna love it."

* * *

After picking up the food, Gray started heading toward their final destination, skillfully avoiding Juvia's persistent questions. _Where are we going? Can't tell you. I promise you'll like it, though. What are you planning? Can't tell. Please tell me? No. Am I supposed to eat right now? You can if you're hungry. _By the time Gray parked on a flat plot of unpaved earth immediately outside their destination, Juvia looked simultaneously amused and ready to rip her hair out in frustration. She shot him the most irritated glare he had ever seen on her face as soon as they stepped out of the motor vehicle. Gray couldn't help but falter, resisting the urge to grovel for forgiveness. Instead, he gave Juvia an apologetic look and went to get his stuff out of the trunk.

Once he had gathered everything, he turned to Juvia, who had her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Her narrowed blue eyes stared at him indignantly as she demanded, "Can you please tell me where we are now?" Gray paled a little more and made a mental note never to keep secrets from her ever again.

Mustering the courage to deny her request once more, he said sheepishly, "That would ruin the surprise. You'll find out in a minute, I promise."

"Gray," she sighed in defeat and observed their surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the crisp, salty ocean breeze. "I'm going to guess we're at the beach?" she asked, looking over at Gray. Her hypothesis was supported by the fact he was pulling out a large beach umbrella from his car. When Gray remained silent with an innocent look on his face, she rolled her eyes and looked around a bit more. If they were indeed near a beach, it wasn't a public beach. Juvia could see the outline of the typical resort hotels lining the public beaches about half a mile away. However, the buildings slowly dwindled away toward their end, so all Juvia could see in her general vicinity was some sparse grass, sand, and a few palm trees dotting the field where Gray had parked.

Gray walked to her side a moment later with the umbrella, his bag, and their dinner. Juvia looked over at his load and, despite feeling somewhat annoyed at his secrecy, couldn't resist the urge to help him out. She silently reached over and took the food from him, nodding slightly as he thanked her.

He adjusted the straps of his bag before motioning for Juvia to follow him. They walked toward the area with more palm trees and emerged on a little rocky cliff. Gray stopped her before she could take a tumble down to the beach below. "Here, this way," he said as he spotted a flatter area to walk on. Juvia followed him.

As soon as she laid eyes on the little strip of beach, Juvia's eyes widened, and her breath hitched in her throat. She stood in stunned silence as she tried to process the perfection she was seeing. She ran down to the water's edge and trailed her fingers through the crystalline waves. Sensing Gray's gaze on her, Juvia straightened and glanced over shyly at him. "Juv-I think Gray has redeemed himself with this," she stammered, struggling with her words as she tried to overcome her amazement.

Gray chuckled and said, "Well I'm glad you like it. This is our family's private property. There's a little cabin somewhere over there where we'd stay when we came here. Just to have a family day, you know?"

Juvia smiled, able to clearly picture the family having fun out on the sand, "That sounds wonderful."

"Yeah, it was pretty great," Gray stared out at the slowly darkening horizon wistfully. Juvia looked at him and noticed how at-peace he looked. She smiled softly, knowing how tumultuous the last week-and-a-half had been for him. Juvia stared at him for a moment, completely lost in thought. She was pulled back to the present by Gray's saying, "Hey Juvia…"

She blinked and looked into his eyes questioningly, "Yes?"

"You're brilliant, you know that?"

Juvia's cheeks burned bright red when she heard the blunt and somewhat out-of-context compliment. She stammered a thank you along with something about getting "beach-ready" before scurrying back to their bags, leaving Gray to snort in amusement. Juvia already had her swimsuit on beneath her clothes, so she returned a moment later wearing a simple purple-with-white-polka-dots two-piece that Gray was pretty sure she'd had since her freshman year of high school. As she approached, Gray's eyes widened, and he blushed slightly. He didn't remember her looking that good in freshman year. The feeling that something about her had changed nagged at Gray's mind.

Juvia fidgeted slightly, a little uncomfortable with Gray's blank stare. She snapped her fingers under his nose tentatively and giggled nervously, "Hello, earth to Gray!"

Gray snapped back to reality with a jolt and realized what he had been doing. He mentally punched himself for staring so blatantly at her and quickly apologized. "Sorry, I… uh… don't know what just… you look good," he mumbled.

Juvia watched him flounder and snickered internally. Deciding he couldn't get off that easily, she got up straight in his face and teased, "Like what you see?"

Gray's blush deepened, and he looked away nervously, "Y-Yeah? I said so already, didn't I?" Juvia giggled aloud this time and bopped him on the nose with her finger. The surprised look on the man's face was too much, and she dissolved into a fit of laughter. Gray composed himself and frowned jokingly, "That's not nice."

Juvia simply smiled innocently and sat down on the sand next to Gray, leaning against his shoulder. They fell into a comfortable silence as Juvia idly traced patterns in the sand. Gray watched her do so quietly. A moment later, Juvia looked out toward the distance and gasped, "Gray! Look!" She leaned forward eagerly.

"What?" Gray asked bemusedly. Juvia shook her head, pointing toward the horizon. Gray followed her gaze and smiled when he realized what had surprised her so much. The horizon was painted in various hues of rosy pink and fiery orange. The soft red rays of the setting sun reached across the sky and over the tranquil waves, setting the ocean aflame. A few wispy clouds formed streaks of grayish purple that contrasted subtly with the rest of the sky.

"It's beautiful," Juvia breathed in wonder. Gray nodded in agreement. He had seen that sunset countless times, and it still continued to amaze him. He could only imagine what Juvia was feeling, seeing it for the first time.

"Yeah," Gray agreed. He looked at Juvia from the corner of his eye. The light from the setting sun glinted in her dark blue eyes, much like it did in the sea. Her wide smile lit up her face as she gazed serenely at the scene before her. Gray felt his heart beat a little faster. He couldn't think of anyone who looked as beautiful as Juvia. He noticed that she was one of the rare people who was stunning both inside and out. Suddenly, he realized what the difference that he had felt toward her was. It wasn't Juvia who had changed at all, Gray thought, rather it was his perception of her. If he thought about it, his feelings for Juvia had been changing this whole time, but it just didn't get quite so noticeable until that very moment. Gray wondered how it could have taken him so long to figure out that he loved her.

He must be even denser than Natsu.

Gray was shaken from his thoughts when Juvia said, "Gray, let's go swimming before it gets too dark."

Gray's only response was to take off his shirt, leaving him only in his swim trunks. Juvia blushed when her eyes were drawn immediately to his abs, and she looked away quickly, trying to calm her own pounding heart. Gray smirked when he saw her do that. "Like what you see?" he teased, using Juvia's own words against her.

Juvia's blush darkened, but she smiled back mischievously, "I think you know the answer to that."

Gray let out a bark of laughter and winked at her. They waded out into the waves. Once they were in far enough where the water reached their stomachs, Gray paused, staring out at the ocean. Suddenly he raised an eyebrow at Juvia and said casually, "Race you. First one to the pier over there wins." He didn't wait for the woman's response as he dove into the water and started off with swift, powerful strokes. He hadn't done competitive swimming since college, but he was far from rusty. Gray knew Juvia was in the same boat. He smirked at the idea of a challenge and swam faster.

He made it about halfway to the pier before Juvia caught up. Gray could feel the stirring of the water as she pulled up beside him. Within moments, she was ahead, leaving Gray to fruitlessly push his muscles even harder. It was no use. Juvia reached the pier a good five seconds ahead of him, and they hauled themselves up onto it, breathing hard.

"Haha! I won!" Juvia laughed tiredly, trying to catch her breath, "You're getting slow, Gray! You had a head start too." She elbowed him lightly in the ribs to show she was joking. Gray just laughed along with her.

"I don't think I've ever managed to beat you," Gray shrugged, "Does that mean I was always slow?"

"Yep," Juvia giggled.

"I'll show you slow!" Gray stood up rapidly. However, he overbalanced and ended up splashing gracelessly back into the water. As his head broke the surface again, he could hear Juvia laughing uproariously. Gray paddled over to where she was sitting, and boosted himself up so that his arms were propping his upper half up on the pier. Suddenly, in an uncharacteristic bout of playfulness, he grabbed Juvia's hand and dove back into the water. Juvia let out a surprised squeak as she was pulled in. Gray made sure to get a good hold around her waist and brought them back up to the surface. The pair looked at each other, both with dripping wet hair plastered to their heads and broad smiles on their faces. After a pause, Gray burst into laughter, Juvia succumbing to her giggles a moment later.

They clambered back onto the pier, and Juvia looked up at the sky. It was getting dark, and she noticed that the pier was lined with lanterns. They must have had light-sensors in them because, as the last bits of sun disappeared below the horizon, they sparked to life one by one, casting a soft yellow glow on the slowly darkening pier. Juvia was struck by the beauty of it all. She wished she could stay suspended in that moment forever. "It's getting dark. We should go back to our stuff," she pointed out, reluctantly breaking the comfortable silence.

"Good idea," Gray nodded. He bent down and detached one of the lanterns. Lifting it up, he grabbed Juvia's hand with his free one and led her back to the beach. As they walked hand-in-hand along the sand, Juvia thought how lucky she was to be doing so with the love of her life. Even her vivid imagination wasn't able to picture how truly wonderful being with Gray would feel. She gently squeezed Gray's lightly calloused hand and smiled when he squeezed back.

"So, which date do you prefer?" Gray asked a moment laterwith a false arrogant smirk, "This one, or Flame Brain's dinner date?"

"It's always a competition, right?" Juvia lifted an eyebrow. She saw Gray falter and grinned. She pretended to think about her answer, "Well, I guess this date was better, but considering we haven't eaten yet…"

Gray's eyes widened, and he cursed, "Crap, you're right. I'm so sorry, Juvia. The food must be so cold now."

Juvia saw Gray's panicking and giggled lightly, "It's fine, calm down, Gray. I was joking."

The man paused mid-ramble and chuckled sheepishly, "All right, sorry about that."

"Although," Juvia said with a devious smile, "You ordered from my favorite Chinese restaurant. I probably won't forgive you if I have to eat it cold."

"Haha, very funny, Juvia," Gray rolled his eyes.

"Who said I was kidding?" Juvia said seriously, suppressing a smile and taking off at a run toward their stuff before Gray could reply.

"Wha-? Juvia!"

* * *

It turned out that the food was cold by the time they got to eating it. It also turned out that Juvia did forgive Gray for that, despite her earlier threats. By the time they chowed down at last, their only light source within a half mile was the lantern Gray had taken from the pier. It was possibly the nicest dinner Juvia had had in years, she thought, as she and Gray made small talk over their food. Even Juvia was impressed by how easily their conversation flowed. They talked about everything from work-related gossip to their favorite TV shows. Gray turned out to be an avid _Game of Thrones _fan, while Juvia claimed her favorite was _Fiore's Next Top Model_. Gray didn't think she was being serious, but he liked that she was joking so freely with him. He found that he was also being less uptight around her and laughing a lot more. It was a nice change.

As the night flew by, Juvia found herself lying on her back next to Gray, staring at the stars. They were engaged in a ferocious competition to name as many little-known constellations as they could. After spending so much time with their resident astronomer Lucy, both had gotten quite good at it. They had decided to go through the smaller constellations first and were moving up to the more obvious ones for the final stretch. "Aquarius, Aries, Libra, Cancer, Taurus, Sagittarius!" Juvia exclaimed determinedly, sitting up and pointing rapidly to each constellation in turn.

Gray narrowed his eyes with his stubborn, won't-go-down-without-a-fight look and retorted, "Leo, Scorpio, Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, Capricorn!" He ticked his points off in his head and cursed when he realized he and Juvia were tied. Suddenly, one of the few constellations they had yet to name popped into his brain. Turning his head to glare competitively at Juvia, he said smugly, "Ophiuchus!" His eyes widened when he met Juvia's own determined gaze and heard her shout the same constellation at the same time as he did with the same conviction. They stared at each other defensively for a minute before the ridiculousness of the situation caught up to them, and they laughed.

"So, call it even?" Juvia giggled.

Gray was about to agree with her, when he thought of something. "I don't think so," he sang.

Juvia stared at Gray, "Excuse me? I'm pretty sure we just named every constellation in the visible universe."

Gray smirked deviously and leaned in to whisper in Juvia's ear, "Canis Minor."

Juvia shivered involuntarily at the proximity, then she realized what exactly Gray had said. She reigned in a frustrated yell and glared into his triumphant eyes. Juvia frowned, mentally preparing a retort. But before she could utter a single word, she felt something press against her lips. More specifically, Gray's mouth. Juvia's mind went blank instantly as she struggled to process what was happening. She slowly gave up, knowing it was useless, and melted into the kiss for a blissful second, or week, or year. Juvia didn't know. Time just seemed to stop, and all she could hear and feel was her own racing heart and Gray's lips on hers. She had imagined this moment many times over the years, and she could honestly say that her old fantasies paled in comparison to the real deal. Gray pulled away slowly, staring wide-eyed at an equally shocked, speechless, and breathless Juvia.

Gray was blushing, looking anywhere but at her. Then in classic Gray fashion, he jumped up, checked his watch, and blurted out, "Huh, one o'clock already. We should-"

"Wh-What?" Juvia cut him off almost angrily, "What does Gray… do you think you're doing?" She didn't leave him time to respond as she barreled on, "You think you've won?" Juvia stepped closer, grabbing Gray's wrist. She tugged him back toward her, glaring into his astonished eyes. Without missing a beat, she mumbled one word that made Gray break out into a wide grin, "Horologium."

With that, she pulled him in for another kiss.

* * *

There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of Fairy Tail the next morning. It deviated so much from the norm that even Natsu picked it up the instant he stepped into the building. The difference: Gray Fullbuster was smiling. Not his usual frown or half-smirk half-sneer, but a full-blown, somewhat dopey smile. He was sitting at a table in the doctor's lounge, grinning away into his coffee mug, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world.

Two tables away, Lucy, Erza, and Natsu tentatively glanced over at the anesthesiologist in concern, each speculating on what could have caused this sudden change in behavior. "Maybe he's finally cracked," Natsu drawled, feigning indifference, "We all knew it was just a matter of time."

"Shut up, Natsu," Lucy sighed at her boyfriend's insensitivity, "He's probably just in a good mood because _he is human and can feel emotion_."

"Like what? I don't think Ice Princess finds joy in anything. Rainbows and chocolate probably wouldn't even make the cut," Natsu scoffed.

"You're both wrong!" Erza proclaimed, slamming down her cup of coffee and watching the drink slosh onto the table, "Gray has not gone crazy, nor has he magically become happy. He is simply experimenting with the facial structure. He must be reviewing his facial anatomy for that test Makarov is giving next week."

Lucy looked at Erza strangely, "Somehow, I don't think that's it."

Natsu groaned in irritation, "If you guys are so curious, why don't you just ask him? He's right there." Both Lucy and Erza stared at the man in shock. Natsu gulped and paled, somewhat uncomfortable under their gazes, "What?"

"Natsu just said…" Erza trailed off.

"Something logical?" Lucy finished.

Natsu whined childishly at that, "That's mean, Luce."

Before he and Lucy could begin their usual banter, the door to the lounge opened to reveal Juvia. Four pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction, and she smiled at each of them in turn. When she made eye contact with Gray, both their smiles widened even more. Lucy, the most observant person in the room, didn't miss that fact. Gray and Juvia held each other's gazes for a moment longer before they realized what they were doing. Gray cleared his throat awkwardly, looking away quickly, and Juvia blushed. She grinned back at Lucy, Natsu, and Erza, "Good morning!"

"Morning, Juvia," the trio chorused. While Juvia wandered over to the cabinets to make herself a cup of tea, Lucy motioned for Erza and Natsu to lean in. "Did you see that?" she whispered, sneaking glances at Gray and Juvia to make sure they weren't listening.

"See what?" Natsu asked blankly.

Erza sighed, "Ignore him, Lucy. Yes, I saw. What do you think that was?"

"I don't know," she muttered, "But something's up with them. Or at least, something's up with Gray."

"I told you he's lost it," Natsu said boastfully.

"I don't even know how to respond to that," Lucy groaned exasperatedly.

Juvia's and Gray's voices drifted over. The pair was engaged in some conversation, apparently unaware that the other three doctors had stopped their little conference to listen. They were talking low enough that their eavesdropping coworkers couldn't make out exactly what they said. However, there was no way the nosy trio could miss what happened next.

Gray leaned over and whispered something in Juvia's ear. Juvia giggled softly and whispered something back. Gray smirked evilly and winked at the blunette, causing her to blush slightly. He then stared straight at his coworkers at the far table, making it clear that he had heard their aimless speculation, and planted a kiss straight on Juvia's mouth.

"Ehhh?" Lucy exclaimed, blinking furiously at the spectacle she was witnessing. Erza's cheeks were as red as her hair as she stared at the couple speechlessly. Natsu's eyes widened considerably, and he rubbed his eyes like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. The liplocking doctors pulled apart a minute later and smirked at the shocked expressions on their friends' faces.

"Surprised?" Juvia smiled sheepishly, a light blush coloring her cheeks. She reached over and grabbed Gray's hand absentmindedly. Gray smirked over at Natsu, "Consider it payback for making us watch you and Lucy two weeks ago."

Lucy and Natsu flushed in embarrassment. Natsu yelled back, "It's not like we forced you to sit there!"

"Yeah? Well, we didn't have much of a choice either. You could have saved it for later, you know, instead of torturing us along with the rest of society," Gray scoffed.

"You looking for a fight, Pervert?" Natsu growled.

"Bring it on, Lover Boy," Gray stood up, cocking his fist. Before the men were able to exchange blows, the hospital over-head speakers crackled to life, and Makarov's voice issued forth, "Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Juvia Lockser, Lucy Heartfilia, and Cana Alberona. Please come to my office immediately." Gray and Natsu sprung apart immediately. The doctors mentioned jumped up without a second's hesitation and sprinted out of the lounge and down the hall, not wanting the get on their boss' bad side.

They burst into the director's office to find that they had beaten Cana there. "Hey Gramps!" Natsu hollered, "Why the hell did you make us run like that?"

The old man shot Natsu a wide grin, "I never told you to run. I simply said to come immediately."

"Geez, what an old geezer," Natsu huffed, flopping down in one of the chairs.

A vein in Makarov's forehead pulsed, and Lucy looked on in concern between Natsu and the hospital director. "You know I could have you fired for your impudence," Makarov growled, crossing his arms and glaring at the younger man.

"Yeah, yeah, you could, but you wouldn't," Natsu said nonchalantly before smiling brightly at the old man, "Love ya, Gramps."

"Hmm," Makarov grumbled, "I guess I love you brats too. Now, back to the topic at hand. Pretty much everyone is here. We just have to wait for... " Just as he said that, somebody else stepped into the office. It was an unhappy-looking Cana, and behind her, a person nobody expected would ever set foot in the hospital again. The doctors' jaws dropped.

"Laxus!" Erza exclaimed.

"What's he doing here?" Gray muttered to himself.

"Didn't he leave the city," Juvia mused.

"Laxus, I challenge you to a fight!" Natsu screeched.

"Everyone, calm down," Makarov sighed, sitting down calmly in his desk chair, "Gather around. We have matters to discuss." He waited patiently for everyone to draw their chairs up to his desk and get settled in. Once the fidgeting stopped, he explained, "So, next month is the annual Global Medical Group Conference to be held in Crocus this year. We have been nominated to attend. The organizers specifically requested that all the attending hospitals compile a team of various medical professionals to give presentations there. But that's not what I am concerned about. Do you know what makes the GMG conference so prestigious?"

"The Eclipse Award for Medical Excellence?" Erza guessed.

"Precisely, and this year we have to bring it back. We've barely missed the award for the past seven years, so I'm counting on you to win it for us this year. You six will make up Fairy Tail's team. We are required to send our top physicians to the meeting. That's why I invited Laxus back for now since he has more experience with running the ER than Freed does."

"That makes sense," Lucy said, glancing over at a frowning Laxus.

Makarov continued, "You will all prepare the best presentation you can possibly make regarding your specific branch of medicine. We have to make a good impression since the actual conference is our last chance to earn more points for this year's final nomination. Until then, we have to do our best jobs, improve Fairy Tail's reputation, and WIN THAT PRIZE!"

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu roared, pumping a fist in the air.

"Calm down, Flame Idiot," Gray sighed, "The making a good impression stuff starts with acting like a professional, you know."

"Shut up, Gray," Natsu pouted.

Just then, Lisanna barged into the room, "Gray, Juvia! Look at the time! Did you forget about the case scheduled for 8 o'clock?" Gray's eyes widened, and he checked his watch: they had thirty minutes.

"Sorry Lisanna, we were busy," he said, getting up quickly and heading for the door, "Juvia, we should..."

"Right behind you," she agreed.

* * *

**So, there's that! Gray and Juvia's kiss on the beach was the first kiss scene I've ever written, so... milestones! Sorry if it seemed a bit awkward. I don't have much experience writing really fluffy stuff, but hopefully it worked well enough. Prepare for the return of medically stuff in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed this one, and don't forget to leave a review with any thoughts or comments you might have! Thanks :)**


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